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« To Be Dealt: Bay, Nady, Marte, Morris, Wilson | Main | Giants Designate Steve Kline »
Sheets & Sabathia Head Next Year's Free Agent Class
A couple nice nuggets to confirm what we already suspect regarding a couple big fish on the 2009 Starting Pitcher Free Agents list.
As MLBTR covered here, this should be Ben Sheets' last year with the Brewers. Further affirming the inevitable, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says,
If the 29-year-old right-hander finally has a healthy season and puts up impressive numbers, the Brewers would be hard-pressed to meet his asking price on what has been a runaway pitching market in recent years. And, should Sheets break down again and turns his four-year, $38.5 million contract into a complete boondoggle, the Brewers would be taken to task for giving him another chance.
And news on an even bigger fish, Patrick McManamon of the Ohio Beacon Journal brings us a quote from Indians GM Mark Shapiro that could lead one to believe that C.C. Sabathia will be voted out of the Tribe:
''We're forced to confront decisions every year,'' Shapiro said. ''We don't lose much next year. We lose one core player next year . . . maybe not. But then the two years that follow we lose almost no one — and none of our core players. 'The biggest challenge that we've got over the next four years, the three years that follow this one, is how we handle losing C.C., if we lose him.''
Tim recently put together an excellent breakdown of Sabathia-suitors here.
By Nat Boyle
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I still think that Sabathia will be in a Yankees uniform in 2009. They're gonna offer him a monster contract to help anchor the rotation with Chien Ming Wang, while Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain develop. That'd give them a fantastic rotation short term and long term, especially considering that they still have super high ceiling guys like Andrew Brackman and Dellin Betances in their farm system.
As for Ben Sheets, I think he would make sense for the White Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, Angels, Yankees (plan B to Sabathia), Blue Jays, Rangers, and maybe the Mets.
Posted by: scribbletone | March 30, 2008 at 12:36 PM
I think sabathia will indeeed sign with the yankees, the only possible reason for him not signing there would be the yanks sign Texira.
Posted by: BxSquad | March 30, 2008 at 01:41 PM
i agree with u guys and have stated before sabathia to the yankees will more than likely happen. they have mussina and possibly pettitte coming off the books so they certainly can afford him. i wouldnt be surprised if they get sabathia and texiera if they miss the postseason. the yankees have a way of overreacting and little hank certainly fits that bill. i dont see the yanks going for sheets because i thin with all those young guys they need a horse, not a high ceiling gamble. on a good day sheets is awesome but he cant stay healthy. if he cant stay healthy this year the cards could go after him. they love rehab projects thats for sure. other possibles for sheets could be the angels, red sox, phillies, white sox, dodgers, and dbacks. all these teams mentioned have expensive starters coming off the books thus have budgeted their payroll to afford him. i really think sabathia to the yankees is a done deal. nobody else can afford him and the yankees really need him.
Posted by: Joelcards | March 30, 2008 at 01:57 PM
I'm a little surprised AJ Burnett isn't being mentioned amongst the top of the 2009 free agent class. When he's healthy, he is dominant. If you ask me, Burnett is a more attractive option than Sheets who also brings the injury stigma with him and is only a year younger.
Posted by: TNS | March 30, 2008 at 04:21 PM
that is true about burnett. technically he has a player option but he will most likely opt out. i think on both of their best days they r nearly identical. overall i would say sheets is a bit more consistent, eventhough burnett has serious potential and appears to improve every year. i would take burnetts injury history over sheets. with sheets it seems like a trend. yes i would go burnett over sheets, just barely.
Posted by: Joelcards | March 30, 2008 at 08:34 PM
Obviously, the Indians don't have a lot of cap room to keep him under contract (the Yankees could easily offer half of Cleveland's entire budget to Sabathia), but doesn't anybody here actually think that CC might stay with the Tribe? Cleveland is pretty much his city now, next to Grady and Pronk, and he has stated many times that he would prefer to stay where he's at. The Yankees might offer $20M+ for him, but the only reason he didn't sign during the offseason was because the Tribe wouldn't make the deal five years instead of four. Both sides claimed that the money involved (about $15M) wasn't the problem, but it was the actual length that posed the problems.
If the biggest problem was a years difference in the contract length, one side could easily give in during the All-Star break to sign him. You could call me optimistic for the Tribe, but it seems that this post has completely ruled out CC re-signing...
Posted by: ThatOldBoomBap | March 30, 2008 at 09:49 PM
it would be good for the indians to keep one of their pricey stars for a change. did anyone read teh espn mag article featuring CC and his upbringing; seems like a humble man, so that makes me thing there is a chance he is with CLE come 09. but it is what it is; you read the quote.
As a yankee fan, 265 innings april to October makes me a bit nervioso, but a horse with a low 3 era paired with CMW would be perfect for hughes/joba/kennedy to mature
...with the bulk of the second rated pitching farm system starting to reach AAAs
Posted by: ArodMVP217 | March 30, 2008 at 11:29 PM
Well.. what a surprise!!
Patrick McI'mamoron is writing about the presumed departure of CC Sabathia to greener pastures after the completion of the 2008 season. McI'mamoron has also written in the recent past about the inevitable departure of Travis Hafner and Jake Westbrook. If he keeps writing stories predicting that the Indian players are going to leave, eventually he'll get one right.. his O'FER on the recent predictions, aside.
CC has stated that he wants to stay in Cleveland. The money that the Yankees can offer is huge, but so are the hassles with the NYY idiot fans. CC isn't going anywhere. He'll be back to help the Indians defend their World Series crown in 2009, the first team to win back to back World Serieses in this millenium.
Go Tribe !!
Posted by: EIi | March 31, 2008 at 08:07 AM