Ben Sheets will retire after he pitches tomorrow, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports (on Twitter). Sheets, who joined the Braves midseason after missing the entire 2011 campaign, said he will never pitch again.
Sheets, 34, made eight starts for the Braves this summer after missing a year to recover from flexor tendon surgery. He posted a 3.54 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 48 1/3 innings for Atlanta this year, re-establishing himself as a legitimate MLB starter.
The Brewers selected Sheets with the tenth overall pick in the 1999 draft and he spent most of his career in Milwaukee. He put together a number of strong seasons with the Brewers, including a memorable 2004 campaign. Sheets posted a 2.70 ERA with 264 strikeouts and just 32 walks in 237 innings that year, finishing eighth in the Cy Young balloting. In ten MLB seasons, Sheets has a 94-96 record, a 3.78 ERA and 1323 strikeouts in 1595 2/3 innings. He has earned more than $52MM as a professional, according to Baseball-Reference.
They must have told him he isn’t going to make the postseason roster or else he’d have waited.
Just trying to overshadow Chipper.
I take it he has been informed there’s no room for him on a post-season roster? Seems like an odd time to come out with this.
Agreed. Kind of a shame he would even announce this and take attention away from Chipper’s last days (regular and postseason) with the Braves. He should have announced this after the season. Disrespectful to Chipper.
They’re playing in Pittsburgh, Chipper isn’t playing and the hoopla was over this weekend with I and 100,219 of my closest friends filled the stands at the TED. Sheets is a standup guy and true pro. There’s no disrespect here for Chipper in any way , shape or form.
Ben Sheets isn’t Chipper Jones, but he’s still a guy who had a good career. He deserves a classy exit.
What a shame, but with his injury history perhaps it’s best.
Have a great retirement, Mr. Sheets. When you were able to pitch you really had some good stuff!
Sad, he really only had 2 good ace-like seasons.
And a US Olympic Gold Medal
he should have gotten a lot more attention for Cy Young in 2004. He was ridiculously good.
Right? But that was back when whoever had the most wins would win the Cy Young. No Brewer was even eligible for that 20 year period or so.
This sucks. He finally gets back and he’s done. Jaysus.
I never got how he finished just 8th in Cy Young voting in ’04. 32 Walks in 237 innings? That’s 1 per start! Just proof that everyone is human and that he was by far an above average talent when he was healthy.
I just checked out that ’04 Cy Young ranking on B-REF and I have to agree. Going by things like WHIP, Ks, ERA, ERA+, and IP it seems pretty clear Randy Johnson and Sheets were the top two.
Obviously the W-L records must have been the deciding factor [Clemens went 18-4, Sheets 12-14].
Chipper’s potential retirement seems to be infectious…
It’s not potential he’s going to retire
So was Brett Favre, need I say more? When he goes a year without playing, then I will label Chipper as retired. Since it didn’t happen yet, it is still a potential retirement…
Kerry Wood is still in potential retirement by that definition
I seem to have a feeling he will try again at some point. Just a hunch. 😉
He could retire on that $10 million he stole from the A’s.
you can call it stealing, but I doubt he was trying to get hurt.
this just in mariners to move in fences at safeco field
The A’s gave him 10 million dollars knowing he had just had surgery to repair his elbow, not to mention his fairly ridiculous injury history. So he tears the same tendon in the same elbow that was just surgically repaired and you’re shocked? It’s not like the A’s didn’t see that as at least a fair possibility.
What a bad signing that was…
comments such as these should be moderated
Huge Brewer fan here. When he was on (and healthy) there were few pitchers who combined his control and un-hittable stuff (especially that nasty 12 to 6 curve ball). One of my all time favorites. Thanks for the memories, Big Ben. Wishing you a great retirement.
Can’t have him on the postseason roster. Too bad, the guy was a nice story this year. Maybe he’ll reconsider and give it one more shot. He still has some stuff in the tank. But if he really is done, I’m glad he was able to come back and finish things this way.
One of my all time favorites. That curveball made many a batter look silly
Why bother rehabbing and returning if you’re going to quit?
Wow 52 million for 94 wins
Prolly has the career worst run support for any pitcher ever, pitched for some bad Brewer teams, and that year in Oakland didn’t do any good.
He’s going out healthy — for the first time in the past couple attempts. He’s made a lot of money, he got to have a chance to pitch a relatively healthy portion of a season…he’s got nothing left to prove. Ben Sheets gets to go out on his own accord — injury isn’t forcing him out this time around. Makes perfect sense.
Maybe Mark Prior should call it quits as well.
He needs to retire a Brewer, we still love him here.
Did Fredi Gonzalez already say that Sheets would not be on the roster for the postseason barring injury? I had hoped that his career would have been longer than it was.
Shame. Was hoping he’d compete for a bullpen spot next year.