Sheets Undergoes Successful Surgery

What happened between Sheets and the Brewers that they won't discus a possible return?

Talk about needing to prove something in the second half, he will be a man on a mission to get as fat a contract as possible next year.

"He was all set to sign with the Rangers when they found this. I expect talks with the Rangers to resume"

Likely, but not until June. But my bet is he signs on with a contender, he's more likely to raise his profile in a playoff race.

Mets will sign Sheets in July when Freddy Garcia is on the DL.

A agree with YanksFan; Smoltz has previously and Wood currently proved that a fragile but electric arm can succeed as a closer.

Its cool,Some dude.

the rangers should just sign him now! a few years, incentive laden deal that can really top out if he performs. the worst that could happen is that he eats up money on the DL, but in all likelihood i'd rather have that than millwood or padilla (or jennings last year) eating up those dollars. i'll take an injured sheets over an injured millwood/padilla any day. yeah, they're injured. but at least you have the hope of sheets being absolutely dominant eventually.

Man I could see this guy getting big bucks for a playoff-hunting team in the second half of the season.

Just wanted to mix things up, Leroy.

This 'sheets coming back as a reliever' stuff is stupid. The guy threw five complete games last year. He CAN last 9 innings and frankly hes better as a starter even if he can only throw 150 innings a year.
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Ummmmmm....and didn't he end up w/ an elbow injury and just had surgery that will keep him off the bump for most of the season? No, it's not a stupid idea. If he feels the need to rush back this year, for whatever reason, be it to help his team contend down the stretch or to showcase his health so he can get a big contract, if he's pushing himself to go 6+ innings as a starter he can do even more damage to his arm. He might be super dominant as a starter but if he gets hurt and misses 1/2 at whatever salary he gets would be a huge loss for that team and for his career.

Coming back as a releiver, at least for 09, allows him to showcase at the mlb level, while minimizing the strain on his arm. Pitching 3 innings a week vs 12-18 innings is a big difference.

BUT Yanksfan - as I just mentioned he is a slow starter. He doesn't get going until he pitches 2-3 innings. He is also stubborn and has already said several times he will not be a relief pitcher or a closer. Trust me, I have seen at least 40 starts from Ben Sheets in person. There is a pattern that almost always occurs and it rules him out of closing. (When it doesn't occur it is usually a complete game shutout or even an 18 strikeout game). His curve has no bite and he doesn;t hit his top velocity until he gets at least 2 full innings in.

I don't doubt that what Brewers fans say about Sheets being a slow starter is true, but that is exactly what people said about Wood. Sheets could adjust to that role if he needed to. I'm actually suprised that more pitchers with health problems don't explore life as a set-up man or closer (I'm looking at you, Randy Wolf!). After all, Eck made the role famous and he was just prolonging his career after many years as a starter. Look at what's going on with Carp, for example...

That said, I think we'd need to see another set-back with Sheets before that would ever come to pass. And, of course, he has more value to the team as a starter if he can do it.

Sheets is a bit lax in the offseason conditioning department - folks with the team will tell you that. My impressions in talking with people who know is that he's a "take the offseason off and then work yourself into condition during spring training" kind of guy.

As far as pegging him as lazy in-season, I don't think that's entirely fair. He's a very mellow Southern personality, not a camera hog or ego guy, so he can come off as lacking fire. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't think the evidence is there that he's a difficult or lazy guy.

Quite frankly, the guy is arguably the best homegrown pitcher in Brewers history (Higuera?) so it isn't exactly like he's totally disappointed even if he did underachieve in some aspects.

""Yesterday, it was such an easy game to play, now i need a place to hide away. Oh I belive in yesterday". Says all the fans that wanted Sheets."

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as if their here to stay" says Ben Sheets after declining to negotiate with the Brewers and going after a big deal.

I don't see anybody touching Sheets until after the draft compensation thing expires in June. Then, we'll see loads of contending teams, who may have lost a couple pitchers to injuries during the first half of the season, wanting his services.