December 18, 2008 – 12:37 pm
The lack of interest in Ben Sheets is very strange to me. AOL Fanhouse has him pegged as this year’s Kyle Lohse and nobody should ever have to be Kyle Lohse. It’s crazy to me that GENERAL MANAGERS forget just how good Ben Sheets was last season. Before getting hurt down the stretch he was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. Injury concerns are a big deal though and I can see where teams would be worried. What I can’t see however is why AJ Burnett would get such a huge deal and Ben Sheets would be ignored. It’s one thing for CC Sabathia to get a huge deal and Sheets to be ignored, AJ Burnett is a whole other story.
Did you know that:
- Based on baseball reference’s similiarity index Ben Sheets is most like AJ Burnett
- Ben Sheets is two years younger than AJ Burnett
- Using OPS+ Ben Sheets has been the better pitcher 4 out of 5 seasons. The only season he was behind, 2006, the score was 119 to 117.
- Average starts per season during that same period: AJ Burnett 26.6 / Ben Sheets 25.6
- 3 year averages:
Sheets: ERA: 3.51 WHIP 1.16 K/9: 7.69
Burnett: ERA 3.92 WHIP 1.28 K/9 9.03
- Both Marcel and Bill James project Ben Sheets to be better next season than AJ Burnett
After reading all that doesn’t it seem weird that one pitcher isn’t getting any offers over two years and the other one (the older one) just signed for 5y/$82.5 million?
I’m a bit torn here. I like Ben and hope he gets a good deal, but at the same time I’d like to see the market stay where it’s at so that he can return to the Brewers next season. As long as he doesn’t go to the Yankees I think I’ll be alright.
December 2, 2008 – 11:49 am
I know a lot about baseball, but arbitration confuses me. Instead of a player becoming a free agent he is given the option of going to court and having his play examined by a judge who then rewards him a contract commensurate to his performance? Something like that. Anyways when a player turns it down and signs with another team his original team is compensated with draft picks. Sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s two depending on how valuable a player was at fantasy. (I heard last season the Mariners offered Jeff Weaver arbitration and they lost all their draft picks, but that’s just a rumor.) Anyways, here’s a roundup of the arbitration cases I care about.
The Mariners offered Raul Ibanez arbitration.
The Brewers offered CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Brian Shouse arbitration.
These are all good things. Raul Ibanez seems destined to misplay a fly ball in a playoff game at Wrigley Field and the Mariners will be compensated with two picks heading into their first draft under their newly hired draft guru. Exciting stuff.
The Brewers are a bit more interesting. Shouse is a pretty low risk gamble and Sabathia is a no brainer as it’s instantly two picks if (when) he leaves. Sheets is pretty interesting. The talk is that he is injured and teams are luke warm to him so he may come back, but doesn’t offering him arbitration say to the rest of baseball “we believe he’s healthy” as they know more about him than anyone else? Or is that what they want teams to think so they can go into this year’s draft with 5 first round picks? I still say he comes back, but it’s interesting to think about.