Ben Sheets (Was Sheets Signs with A's)

[Post Count Padder]

As Ken Rosenthal guessed last week, the Chicago Cubs are reportedly set to make a run at free agent pitcher Ben Sheets, the Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan reports.

 

According to Sullivan, Cubs GM Jim Hendry contacted Sheets' agent during the Winter Meetings. Sheets is reportedly asking for two years and a guaranteed $10-12MM, though the Cubs believe Cubs "they have a good shot at landing him with an incentive-laden deal."

 

It is hard to imagine Sheets getting anywhere close to that kind of guaranteed money, considering he missed the entire 2009 season.

 

Sullivan sees Sheets slotting in nicely in front of Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly in the Chicago rotation, with Randy Wells and newly-acquired Carlos Silva also serving as starting options.

 

With Lilly coming off of arthroscopic shoulder surgery, and little recent success from Silva, it is hard to imagine the Cubs want to roll the dice with Sheets. However, they did acquire Rich Harden in July 2008, so high-risk, high-reward pitchers may just be how the Cubs roll.

[Schwarber Fan]

I'm down

[Old Style]

Let's do it.

[Four and Twenty]

I'm on board.

 

Maddux joining the organization and a possible Sheets incentive-laden deal make me pine for this momentum of sane decisions to keep rollin'.

[waffle]

team success often seems to hinge on having at least 1 or 2 pitchers having career years and then never achieving that level again any time soon. Volume should increase those odds. I like it. I have always liked Sheets.

[XZero771679666304]

I like it.

 

 

Plus, it will enrage Cubs hating Brewers fans, which would be a bonus.

[CubbieBum]

I like it as long as it doesn't mean Randy Wells gets the Marshall treatment. Lilly, Dempster, Z and Sheets would be guaranteed starters I would say. That leaves Wells and Silva. Obviously Wells should be the one who starts but something tells me we didn't trade for Silva just to see him do nothing even though we are likely better off with him doing nothing. Wells was way to damn good last season for us to bench him but I can't shake the feeling that we would to see what Silva has.

[Andy]

Awesome move, and if Rosenthal's correct and we get him for an incentive-laden deal, it's an awesomer move. Sheets is definitely a gamble worth taking.

[Eric Clipperton]

Go for it! With Maddux, should be a good chance that Sheets could return to become a solid top of the rotation starter, while there's the usual injury risk I doubt the Cubs will have a chance at adding any better starting pitcher so hey, go for it?!! I think he will be a rehab bargain.

[Cubswin11]

Get it done Jim. It shouldn't take more than $7-8m guaranteed.

[UMFan83]

I'd be for the move, but its an extremely high risk move. It might be more risky than Harden, or at least as.

 

Without fail Sheets has missed time with injury every single year since 2004, and sometimes twice a year.

 

In 2005, he sustained what was termed a "viral infection" of the inner ear, and missed 30 games due to dizziness and altered balance.

 

A torn latissimus dorsi muscle in his right shoulder occurred in late August and ended his season.

 

In the offseason, he had a microdiscectomy back surgery to correct a herniated disc in his lumbar spine (low back). While this is considered to be a minor back surgery, it should be noted that no back surgery is "minor." Having any spine procedure as a 27-year-old is somewhat concerning, and leads me to wonder how his overall core conditioning is.

 

The 2006 season saw Sheets begin the year on the DL due to a posterior shoulder strain.

 

Tendinitis of the right shoulder landed him back on the DL in early May. He spent a great deal of time on the DL with this injury—a span of 72 games passed before he returned to action.

A torn tendon in his right middle finger sidetracked his 2007 campaign; he was sent to the DL in July and missed a course of 40 games.

 

After returning for a few starts, a minor hamstring strain was enough for him to miss the final eight games of the regular season.

 

He has also dealt with an array of minor injuries that did not require much, if any, missed time (right pectoral strain, left groin strain).

 

And that list doesn't include 2008 where he was unable to make his last 2-3 starts in the Brewers playoff push as well as unable to play in the postseason.

 

Again, I'm for the move because it's a really high reward. He's one of the top 5-10 pitchers in baseball when he's healthy, but he's not healthy all that much.

[SouthSideRyan]

Sullivan sees Sheets slotting in nicely in front of Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly in the Chicago rotation, with Randy Wells and newly-acquired Carlos Silva also serving as starting options.

 

Hahaha

[Cubswin11]

What was the surgery he had last offseason? Was it on his elbow or shoulder? I remember it being a surgery guys have had before and there being two polar opposites on how those guys recovered. I could be mistaken and I think one guy who had it was Carpenter and obviously he has rebounded quite nicely with STL and the other guy is out of the league, I want to say maybe it was Jason Jennings former COL/HOU pitcher.

[17 Seconds]

I'd be for the move, but its an extremely high risk move. It might be more risky than Harden, or at least as.

 

Without fail Sheets has missed time with injury every single year since 2004, and sometimes twice a year.

 

In 2005, he sustained what was termed a "viral infection" of the inner ear, and missed 30 games due to dizziness and altered balance.

 

A torn latissimus dorsi muscle in his right shoulder occurred in late August and ended his season.

 

In the offseason, he had a microdiscectomy back surgery to correct a herniated disc in his lumbar spine (low back). While this is considered to be a minor back surgery, it should be noted that no back surgery is "minor." Having any spine procedure as a 27-year-old is somewhat concerning, and leads me to wonder how his overall core conditioning is.

 

The 2006 season saw Sheets begin the year on the DL due to a posterior shoulder strain.

 

Tendinitis of the right shoulder landed him back on the DL in early May. He spent a great deal of time on the DL with this injury—a span of 72 games passed before he returned to action.

A torn tendon in his right middle finger sidetracked his 2007 campaign; he was sent to the DL in July and missed a course of 40 games.

 

After returning for a few starts, a minor hamstring strain was enough for him to miss the final eight games of the regular season.

 

He has also dealt with an array of minor injuries that did not require much, if any, missed time (right pectoral strain, left groin strain).

 

And that list doesn't include 2008 where he was unable to make his last 2-3 starts in the Brewers playoff push as well as unable to play in the postseason.

 

Again, I'm for the move because it's a really high reward. He's one of the top 5-10 pitchers in baseball when he's healthy, but he's not healthy all that much.

 

he doesn't have to make 30 starts to help the team a lot

[davell]

We NEED Sheets. Losing Harden, but adding Sheets would basically be a wash as far as I'm concerned honestly and we need to replace Harden as our rotation needs an upgrade. Adding a Contreras type, as has also been talked about does nothing for us. This is the type risk-reward move we truly need. I don't care if it's him or Bedard, but we really need one or the other......

[Cubbie Swagger]

Is that 10-12 over 2 years, or per year? I wouldn't give him that much per year... honestly I would have rather given it to Harden if that's the price.

 

If we can get him to sign an incentive-heavy deal... I'm very down.

[NCCubFan]

What was the surgery he had last offseason? Was it on his elbow or shoulder? I remember it being a surgery guys have had before and there being two polar opposites on how those guys recovered. I could be mistaken and I think one guy who had it was Carpenter and obviously he has rebounded quite nicely with STL and the other guy is out of the league, I want to say maybe it was Jason Jennings former COL/HOU pitcher.

I believe it was elbow surgery, but I don't think it was TJS. It seems to me that pitchers generally come back better from elbow surgery than shoulder surgery, but not always (one example of an unsuccessful comeback from TJS is Luke Hagerty a few years ago).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Please and thank you to something like 2/12 for Sheets with incentives for IP. Even at 100 IP a year he's a good value, as long as his stuff isn't completely gone.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Please and thank you to something like 2/12 for Sheets with incentives for IP. Even at 100 IP a year he's a good value, as long as his stuff isn't completely gone.

 

That would be a very smart risk and I really hope it happens.

 

A rotation of

 

Z

Sheets

Lilly

Dempster

Wells

 

would defintely raise my faith in the 2010 Cubs.

[Banedon]

Sullivan sees Sheets slotting in nicely in front of Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly in the Chicago rotation, with Randy Wells and newly-acquired Carlos Silva also serving as starting options.

 

Hahaha

 

Because you know...their pitching skill is roughly equivalent and all....

[jersey cubs fan]

Go for it! With Maddux, should be a good chance that Sheets could return to become a solid top of the rotation starter,

 

What?

 

What does Maddux working in the front office have to do with Sheets returning to form? How does Maddux, in any way shape or form, improve Sheets' chances.

 

 

 

The Cubs more or less have to do this, or something similar, to get back to last year's level of performance.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Go for it! With Maddux, should be a good chance that Sheets could return to become a solid top of the rotation starter,

 

What?

 

What does Maddux working in the front office have to do with Sheets returning to form? How does Maddux, in any way shape or form, improve Sheets' chances.

 

 

 

The Cubs more or less have to do this, or something similar, to get back to last year's level of performance.

 

Regardless if Maddux is in the front office, pitching coach, or mascot, he has nothing to do with Sheets success. Its all about staying healthy.

[CUBZ99]

Sullivan sees Sheets slotting in nicely in front of Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly in the Chicago rotation, with Randy Wells and newly-acquired Carlos Silva also serving as starting options.

 

Hahaha

 

Because you know...their pitching skill is roughly equivalent and all....

 

On a side note, did anyone see that article over the weekend that suggested that Rothschild has been watching video of Silva and noticed some flaws in his delivery that he was going to work on. If Rothschild were able to make Silva a quality starter(I know we are talking Duncan-like pixie dust and all), would he finally get some credit?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Sullivan sees Sheets slotting in nicely in front of Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly in the Chicago rotation, with Randy Wells and newly-acquired Carlos Silva also serving as starting options.

 

Hahaha

 

Because you know...their pitching skill is roughly equivalent and all....

 

On a side note, did anyone see that article over the weekend that suggested that Rothschild has been watching video of Silva and noticed some flaws in his delivery that he was going to work on. If Rothschild were able to make Silva a quality starter(I know we are talking Duncan-like pixie dust and all), would he finally get some credit?

 

Whatever Rothschild does, Silvas ceiling is probably Jason Marquis.

[BeerHere]

Didn't Sheets have a surgery recently? Is he going to be ready for the start of the season?