The Brewers have offered Ben Sheets arbitration, ensuring either two top 60 or so picks or another year of Sheets at a somewhat discounted rate. It's really a win-win situation for the Brewers:

• If Sheets elects to turn down the offer, the Brewers will get the signing teams first round pick, unless they finished in the bottom half of the league or sign a better free agent (according to Elias), in which case the Brewers would get the next unprotected pick. They would then also get a pick in between the first and second rounds (commonly referred to as the "sandwich round") based on the Elias rankings.

• If he elects to stay with the team and play on a "prove your worth" one-year deal, then the Brewers will get him for a decent sum, but only for a one year commitment. This is ideal, because it would help bridge the gap between the current rotation and some of the impact arms who are at least a year or two away while not tying the team down to a long term commitment. If the past is any indicator, Ben Sheets isn't likely to give you a CY young caliber season or pitch 200 innings, but he is a solid bet to give you 120+, well above league average innings.

It's somewhat unlikely that Sheets will accept the offer and if he does he's probably going to get a raise from his current annual salary, which is sure to ruffle the feathers of a few detractors. There is also a good possibility that he could end up signing with a team whose first round pick is protected, which would mean the Brewers end up with picks comparable to those they received for Scott Linebrink or Fransisco Cordero last year. Still, this is move that represents little risk and offers several possible likely rewards.

The outlook is similarly rosy on both sides for their offer of arbirtation to lefty specialist Brain Shouse. Sure, they're only in line for a pick between the second and third rounds should he decline, but that's still not bad. Should he accept, the Brewers are probably on the hook for a couple million dollars for one year, which isn't bad for a guy who does still totally shut down left handed batters. Still, if I'm kinda rooting for Sheets to accept the offer, I'm also somewhat rooting for Shouse to turn it down. His inablity to be anything better than awful against right handed batters puts the manager in tough spot on a regular basis when navigating the late innings.

Oh, and CC Sabathia was also offered arby too. Surprised?