Brewers Message Board

F#cking Jon Heyman

badger80 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:17:36 GMT

SI_JonHeyman:
#brewers plan to try to lock up prince fielder this winter. dont put it past milwaukee (1 of 9 teams to draw 3 mil fans)

This is just stupid.

Greinke wins AL Cy Young

badger80 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:06:15 GMT

Nice to see they got one award right so far.

Greinke wins, Hernandez second

Possible Pitcher on the cheap side.......

mr.baseball — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:47:46 GMT

If we are going to give Halama a try, we might as well go after Clay Hensley from the Fish. Here is the article from MLB.COM today.....

While most fans are concentrating on the potential destinations and paydays of the "big name" free agents, more than 500 Minor Leaguers have become six-year free agents, and they will also be looking for jobs.

The list doesn't have quite the glitz and glamor of its Major League counterpart, but there are usually a few players who slip through the cracks, bloom late, improve their games or do something to make people look back a year later and wonder how they'd been overlooked.

Will one of them be the next Garrett Jones, the six-year free agent who signed with Pittsburgh last winter after 10 Minor League seasons and led all rookies in homers and slugging percentage in '09?

Here are nine players to watch.

VETERANS' DAYS: A few big league veterans who still have the right stuff

Clay Hensley, RHP (Florida): The 30-year-old has been equally effective as both a starter and a reliever, but he saw most of his time in the former role this summer, when he went 8-4 with a 3.24 ERA in 19 starts at Triple-A New Orleans, limiting Pacific Coast League hitters to a .246 average. He finished the season with a stretch of 15 shutout innings. An eighth-round Draft pick of the Giants in 2002, Hensley has gone 15-18 with a 4.09 ERA in 106 big league games dating back to his Major League debut in 2006.

The guy has had success at the Major League level, and I can live with an ERA of 4.09 from our 4th or 5th starter. He would be cheap! Most likely to sign at the Major League Minimum.

OT: YOUR Top 5 1980's Alternative Tunes

Destinos2 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:33:14 GMT

putting a CD-R together for tonight-

The Cult, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Love and Rockets, INXS, REM, U2, Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, The Clash, Eurythmics, - IM(not so) HO this era had some of the best music

Ideas?

Brewers Top 10 Prospects Tom H/BA

brewerfanx1 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:42:01 GMT

Top 10 Prospects

By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 20, 2009 11:21 a.m.

Those of you who subscribe to Baseball America magazine probably have received the newest issue in the mail, featuring the Top 10 Prospects from each NL Central club.

I work annually with BA on the Brewers' list and this is what we came up with for this year:

1. SS Alcides Escobar
2. 2B Brett Lawrie
3. 3B Mat Gamel (doesn't qualify as rookie for MLB in 2010)
4. RHP Eric Arnett
5. C Jonathan Lucroy
6. OF Kentrail Davis
7. LHP Zach Braddock
8. OF Lorenzo Cain
9. RHP Jake Odorizzi
10. RHP Kyle Heckathorn

Arnett, Davis and Heckathorn were selected in the 2009 June draft, so we think the Brewers did pretty well with those picks.

Compare that to the Top 10 list from last year and you'll see there have been quite a few changes:

1. SS Alcides Escobar
2. 3B Mat Gamel
3. 2B Brett Lawrie
4. RHP Jeremy Jeffress
5. C Angel Salome
6. OF Lorenzo Cain
7. 2B Cutter Dykstra
8. 3B Taylor Green
9. OF Cole Gillespie (traded to AZ)
10. C Jonathan Lucroy

On Monday afternoon, I'll be doing a chat on the Baseball America web site to discuss the prospects in the Brewers' system. That morning, I'll post the remainder of the Top 30 list for the Brewers on this blog site.

Have a good weekend, folks.

John Halama

klwillis45 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:50:40 GMT

http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/11/brewers_consider_halama_for_mi.html

Derek Lowe

cash4trash — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:23:01 GMT

I doubt this trade would happen, but I want to know how much the Braves are willing to eat in order to move Lowe. The 36-year old right hander signed a 4 year, $60MM deal in 2009. He is to be owed $15MM the next three seasons. If I'm Doug Melvin, I'd ask that the Braves eat at least 1/2 of the contract. MLBTradeRumors.com says that Corey Hart would be involved in the deal to bring Lowe to Milwaukee. If the Braves would do that, it would still leave some flexible money to spend now, or save for the trade deadling. I'd have a problem with trading Hart because there isn't a major league option to play RF (unless you count Gamel as a candidate). I'd ask the Braves to cough up right fielder Matt Diaz (.313 13HR 58 RBI), Ryan Church (.273 4hr 40rbi) or Jordan Schafer (.204 2hr 8rbi)

Halama Hopes To Sign With Brewers

BigDee — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:37:59 GMT

Halama Hopes To Sign With Brewers

By Tim Dierkes [November 20 at 12:42pm CST]

John Halama hopes to sign a minor league deal with the Brewers by early next week, according to MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Halama's agent said his client "would love to reunite with both [Ken] Macha and [Rick] Peterson." Halama, 37, will take the mound for Aguilas tonight in the Dominican Republic.

Earlier this month, the Blue Jays were named as one team with an eye on Halama. Halama pitched in the Independent League this year and also tossed 90.3 Triple A innings for the Braves.

-->

As a small market team- how do you feel about MLB's .....

Destinos2 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:09:29 GMT

How do you feel about the lack of a salary cap? How do you feel about being punked for your best players because you are a little blue collar small market laughing stock who's owner can't afford top talent?

The Brewers like it or not are three players- Braun, Prince, and YoGO- the rest are a collection of journeymen and prospects. Prince is about to get out of Dodge- (hear he can't wait) and then your really screwed again because the well is drying up as far as prospects. Looks like they will be fishing for middle rotation guys like Davis- might as well have kept HR giving up Looper. Another year of .500 type baseball, and probably a couple away from going back to the basement. The amazing thing is how you guys just take it every year. The fan conditioning in Milwaukee is really something-Pavlov would be proud.

Selig is just a whore for the big market clubs- How do you feel about him?

A Market Primer....

Einsteinhood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:17:20 GMT

Baseball Prospectus put this out to help people sift through trade rumors.

Unfortunately, it's cut off after 3 points, so you can't read the whole thing unless you happen to be a BP subscriber.

I think we'll just bump this everytime some insane idea/rumor comes down the pike this offseason.

Roy Halladay extension window talks..

brewerfanx1 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:47:09 GMT

Apparently the Blue Jays are allowing a window for teams to discuss an extension with Halladay and trade for him.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/blue-jays-will-give-teams-a-window-to-discuss-an-extension-with-halladay.html

Two questions for Die-Hard MLB fans

Destinos2 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:43:36 GMT

I played baseball in HS and college-love the sport. I go to between 10-15 Brewer games a year-nothing like being at the park in summer, tail-gates, friends, listening to the pre-game on 620, cold beer, etc. I would call myself a knowledgeable fan, and someone who takes an above average interest in my cities team. Die-hard MLB fans are kind of their own breed though- stat geeks, prospect watchers, and people with a thorough degree of understanding of player's salary structure (options/arbitration/etc). From reading these boards every so often I would estimate that there are about twenty such fans that would easily meet this criteria.

1.) What do you guys get out of this; researching and tracking prospects, fact finding (investigating salaries), obscure stat collecting, etc?

2.) What do you guys do (career/personal) where you have all this time to dedicate to this?

I like the entertainment side of sports-just like I enjoy concerts, movies, sports, vacations, ........, but I don't understand why some fans get so involved (especially on all the business aspects)-to the point where hours a day are spent in thought, analysis, and postings. I could understand if you were employed by the team, newspaper, or web site- where you were deriving some income from this time, but to do it for free and as some anonymous poster- I don't understand.

I think it would be interesting to do a documentary on some of you. There's a lot of things I don't understand-doesn't make it right or wrong. I would be interested to hear what some of you do (real jobs) and why you formed this passion?

Jonny Gomes?

cash4trash — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:25:02 GMT

Would anyone be interested in trading for Reds outfielder Jonny Gomes? Gomes hit for 20hr 51rbi and a .267 AVG. He made $1.3 in 2009 with the Reds.

9 Brewers to hit the market.

brewerfanx1 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:54:29 GMT

Nine Brewers To Hit Open Market

By Drew Silva [November 18 at 5:49pm CST]

Brewers GM Doug Melvin told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com on Wednesday that he expects all of his club's potential free agents to reach the open market.

"No," said Melvin.. "I don't think they want to sign, personally. They want to wait until Friday and hope someone picks up the phone and makes them an offer they never thought they would get."

The Brewers, and the rest of baseball's 29 clubs, have until Friday at 12:00am ET to negotiate exclusively with team members who are not under contract for 2010. After that deadline, the hot stove season is truly on and things around here will get even busier.

As McCalvy notes, Milwaukee has nine outgoing free agents: Outfielders Mike Cameron, Frank Catalanotto and Corey Patterson, infielders Craig Counsell and Felipe Lopez, catcher Jason Kendall and pitchers Braden Looper, Claudio Vargas and David Weathers.

The Carlos Gomez acquisition likely means Cameron is gone and the Brewers are ready to give a healthy Rickie Weeks the second base job over Lopez, a Type B free agent who is likely to be offered arbitration but will almost certainly decline. As for the others, we shall see.

mlbtraderumors.com

Brewers Add a Catcher

Dan Walsh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:10:24 GMT

Brewers today claimed C George Kottaras off waivers from Red Sox Kottaras, 26, batted .237 w/ 1 HR and 10 RBI in 45 games with the Red Sox

Pitching wins championships except for when hitting wins championships

radio silence — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:20:32 GMT

Okay, this is something that is getting tossed around the board a lot, and has been tossed around for months before now, as some sort of general rule about (a) making the playoffs, and (b) succeeding in the playoffs: pitching wins championships. Given all the factors that change in the playoffs -- such as a smaller number of games needed for success, more days off, teams facing more evenly matched talent, etc. -- I am simply going to focus on making the playoffs here.

I started this survey in 2002 simply to get a starting point and see what we can make of the data, refine it, and then go back to 1995. My goal is to analyze pitching rotations in the WC era, noting that decreasing the scarcity of playoff spots subsequently decreases the need for teams to excel in order to make the playoffs. Beating out 9 teams for a playoff spot -- the lone playoff spot -- will be inherently more difficult than beating out either 3-5 teams for a division championship, or 5-6 teams in the Wild Card pool. Not only are playoff spots simply less scarce in terms of pure percentage of playoff spots per league teams, but playoff races are also split into two different classes, which divides up the competition in yet another way (i.e., inter-division competition).

So, the whole point is to figure out what it takes to make the playoffs. One important point of this search will be to determine if the general trends we expect to be true -- namely that pitching is crucial to making playoffs -- are actually true, or what exactly the pitching performance of playoff teams mean....

We start with 2002, the first year of competition after one of the best pitching staff duels in the past decade, which saw the Diamondbacks face the Yanks. Coming to the playoffs, the Diamondbacks' rotation posted a stellar 3.88 ERA in 107-Park Factor BOB, whereas the Yankees' rotation posted a slightly above average 4.34 ERA in average Yankee Stadium. You might argue that the 2002 and 2003 World Series featured better pitching rotations, but in those cases all four rotations were pretty much close to average in mostly neutral environments, and no rotation matched the Diamondbacks' staff performance...

Here are 31 rotations to think about carefully, including their VORP totals for pitchers with 100+ IP (divided simply by staff spot, rather than league spot), league ERA, rotation ERA, and team park factor (to gauge rotation ERA against league ERA).

Most of these 31 rotations are either average or below average, with some notable exceptions: 2002 Angels and 2005 White Sox due to the notable convergence of multiple career seasons, 2004 Twins because of Santana's excellent season (best individual pitching performance of any pitcher on any playoff team after Pedro's dominant years), 2008 White Sox because of their acquisition of young pitchers contributing to rotation depth, and 2008 Brewers due to mid-season acquisition of Sabathia.

Team	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	ROTATION	LEAGUE	PF
2002 Cardinals	41.3	32.8	19.5	x	x	x	x	4.04	4.11	97
2002 Giants	40	39.5	32.8	16.2	10.7	x	x	3.83	4.11	94
2002 Angels	61.4	47.6	35.7	19.6	14.6	10.5	x	4	4.47	99
2003 Giants	75.2	28.5	15.2	14.1	10	1.1	x	3.86	4.29	98
2003 Twins	51.1	32.6	29.1	24.6	11.8	-3.5	x	4.69	4.53	100
2004 Twins	89.1	59.9	40.8	9.6	7	x	x	4.08	4.64	102
2004 Yankees	25.9	25.7	21.7	21.6	x	x	x	4.82	4.64	97
2004 Angels	51.4	30.6	27.7	23.8	20.9	20.3	5.5	4.7	4.64	97
2004 Dodgers	49.1	35.5	27	20.1	11.7	x	x	4.53	4.31	95
2005 White Sox	55.1	51	46.3	42.6	7.1	x	x	3.75	4.36	103
2005 Padres	53.2	12.3	8	3.2	x	x	x	4.49	4.23	91
2005 Yankees	43.5	22.6	16.6	-2	x	x	x	4.59	4.36	97
2005 Red Sox	34.4	25.1	23.6	18.7	x	x	x	4.56	4.36	104
2006 Cardinals	67	26.1	-7	x	x	x	x	4.79	4.49	99
2006 Padres	45.3	40.3	38.5	26.9	7.4	x	x	4.1	4.49	90
2006 Mets	36.9	19.3	15.3	14.7	x	x	x	4.67	4.49	97
2006 Athletics	49.5	40.8	18.9	11.5	11.3	x	x	4.5	4.56	97
2006 Twins	79	50.8	22.5	17.4	-8.4	x	x	4.5	4.56	98
2006 Yankees	55.7	45.8	28.7	18.9	13.8	x	x	4.54	4.56	99
2007 Yankees	50.5	39	13	x	x	x	x	4.57	4.52	100
2007 Rockies	41.7	24.6	12.8	12.6	x	x	x	4.58	4.44	108
2007 Phillies	48.2	26.6	12.7	-10.9	x	x	x	4.91	4.44	103
2008 White Sox	53.3	37.3	28.3	23.7	15.5	x	x	4.09	4.36	105
2008 Phillies	55.4	39.7	18.4	-3.2	-4.2	x	x	4.23	4.3	102
2008 Brewers	51.6	51.2	25.1	19.4	15.1	13.5	2.3	3.86	4.3	98
2009 Phillies	46.7	30.8	24.4	8.7	x	x	x	4.29	4.2	102
2009 Angels	49.2	33.5	25.7	21.9	10.2	x	x	4.44	4.46	101
2009 Twins	33.4	32.6	-2.7	x	x	x	x	4.84	4.46	98
2009 Rockies	49.9	32.2	22.9	21.8	17.5	x	x	4.1	4.2	109
2009 Red Sox	55.5	43.4	20.1	-0.2	x	x	x	4.63	4.46	105
2009 Yankees	55.3	37.1	26.8	9	x	x	x	4.48	4.46	-

By contrast, the rotation ERA, league ERA, and park factors of the above average squads, featuring noticeably fewer cases of overwhelming performance by midseason acquisitions, largescale staff luck, etc...:

2002 Twins	4.38	4.47	100
2002 Athletics	3.62	4.47	97
2002 Yankees	3.97	4.47	99
2002 Dbacks	3.68	4.11	111
2002 Braves	3.42	4.11	101
2003 Braves	4.16	4.29	100
2003 Cubs	3.69	4.29	101
2003 Yankees	4.02	4.53	97
2003 Marlins	3.91	4.29	98
2003 Red Sox	4.3	4.53	103
2003 Athletics	3.62	4.53	98
2004 Red Sox	4.31	4.64	105
2004 Astros	4.03	4.31	101
2004 Cardinals	4.08	4.31	99
2004 Braves	3.84	4.31	100
2005 Braves	3.65	4.23	100
2005 Astros	3.46	4.23	100
2005 Cardinals	3.61	4.23	100
2005 Angels	3.75	4.36	97
2006 Dodgers	4.29	4.49	100
2006 Tigers	4	4.56	100
2007 Indians	4.19	4.52	100
2007 Angels	4.22	4.52	100
2007 Red Sox	4.21	4.52	105
2007 Dbacks	4.23	4.44	107
2007 Cubs	4.19	4.44	104
2008 Cubs	3.75	4.3	107
2008 Dodgers	3.87	4.3	97
2008 Rays	3.95	4.36	101
2008 Angels	4.14	4.36	102
2008 Red Sox	4.02	4.36	106
2009 Cardinals	3.66	4.2	98
2009 Dodgers	3.58	4.2	94

Note that since 2002, two teams were propelled to the playoffs and won the WS on the back of lucky, uncharacteristic rotations (2002 Angels, 2005 White Sox), three teams won the WS with legitimately good staffs (2003 Marlins, 2004 Red Sox, and 2007 Red Sox), and three teams found their way to the playoffs and won the WS despite notably average/below average rotations (2006 Cardinals, 2008 Phillies, and 2009 Yankees).

There is a lot to study here -- note how one or two dominant spots can be buried in the middle of an average or below average rotation during the regular season, only to shine in the playoffs, when short rest starts and shortened rotations are more common. Also note that many of the below average staffs actually have five starters reach 100+ innings, without those starters pitching notable overall IP totals. A lot of team performance will depend upon replacement contributions that can be tossed aside in the playoffs.

So, we might find many ways in which we can argue that pitching wins in the playoffs -- which is true to some extent, when you consider that relievers and starters alike are used differently, more in line with situational demands -- without arguing that the strength of that pitching is necessary for an entire season.

In these examples, somewhere, we can find a model on which the Brewers' front office should find their inspiration for constructing their 2010 rotation.

Twins And Brewers On Washburn's Radar

BigDee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:24:51 GMT

Twins And Brewers On Washburn's Radar

By Mike Axisa [November 18 at 1:30pm CST]

Free agent lefty Jarrod Washburn hasn't made much of a secret of his desire to play near his Webster, Wisconsin home, and he told FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi that both the Twins and Brewers are on his radar.

"The Twins and Brewers are both on the radar for me," Washburn said. "The thought of playing close to home has always appealed to me, and I think both of those teams would be good fits for me.

"I don't know yet if either of those teams have mutual interest, but we will see."

Obviously, those two teams fit Washburn's geographical desires. Both are said to be seeking veteran starters this offseason as well. Washburn also feels there's "mutual interest" in a return to the Mariners, noting that he enjoyed his time in Seattle and his family loved it there.

He also mentioned that his surgically repaired knee feels good.

"The surgery on the knee wasn't real extensive," Washburn told FOXSports.com in a Wednesday e-mail. "Dr. (Lewis) Yocum said he didn't have to do too much in there — just a little cleaning up.

"It feels great now, almost like I didn't even have a surgery. So, I don't see it being a problem for me in the future."

The Tigers acquired the 35-year-old from Seattle at the trade deadline, only to see him pitch to a 7.33 ERA in eight starts. Washburn has already received word from Detroit that they will not attempt to re-sign him.

What would you be willing to give up?

StillaBrewersFan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:15:44 GMT

Brewers basically have no pitching in AAA or AA but seem to have a lot of promise in A ball. So if the chance were to arise would you trade one of our young arms for the likes of Edwin Jackson? Now that I see what is out there my dream off season would be to sign Lackey(very long shot but alot of money has been freed up) trade for Jackson and sign Mulder or Sheets to an incentive laiden deal.

40 man update

klwillis45 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:04:16 GMT

http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/11/cain_rivas_get_40-man_spots.html

http://www.brewcrewball.com/2009/11/17/1160571/the-brewers-rule-5-draft-eligible

To Revamp The Pitching Corps

BIG LEGEND — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:55:56 GMT

Although not impossible, the signing of Lackey is a long shot at best. The Brewers can live with Gallardo at one if they can fill numbers 2-5 with number 3 type pitchers. What I mean is strengthen the entire rotation. I will admitt trading for a guy like Edwin Jackson would be real nice but I am looking more at the free agent types for this discussion.

I would indeed look at Mark Mulder because I think that would be a low risk, high reward type move. What about adding two of these types - Davis, Washburn, Marquis, Garland etc.? I would take any of these guys to start next season over any of the Brewers on hand other than Gallardo of course. In my opinion, this may not make the top two spots in the rotation much stronger, but it certainly would give the Brewers a very solid 3-5. Now I know there are others that could fit this bill as well, but my point is to reduce the weakness of this rotation by adding some real quality to the middle/backend of it. While these guys may not be the studs your looking for, I believe the signing of a few guys like this would give the Brewers a chance at a very solid rotation from top to bottom.

Official John Lackey dumb speculation thread

Einsteinhood — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:41:46 GMT

Might as well kick this bad boy off because his name keeps coming up.

From TH today....

Having traded Hardy for a centerfielder, Melvin did say he might have to explore the free agent market for pitching help. He mentioned John Lackey, the top pitcher on the market, but didn't indicate he would pursue him.

We've speculated about stuff like this with far, far less, so we might as well get going here.

Some ESPN.com stuff:

Yankees in line for Lackey?

10:16AM ET

John Lackey | Angels | Interested: Yankees?

Top Email

The free agency period officially opened for business Thursday and Angels right-hander John Lackey was among the 79 players to file.

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney writes in today's blog that if the Yankees want Lackey, the best free-agent pitcher available, then they will get him, "because they are the team best in the position to consider stepping out farther out on the contract limb than anybody else."

Buster adds that the Yankees and the Braves were the only team to offer a fifth year in a deal with A.J. Burnett. The same question could be in place for the Lackey contract talks: Will any team go to a fifth year in its offer for Lackey, who just turned 31?

Keith Law

What Lackey brings

Lackey is the only bona fide number-one starter on the market this offseason; while others have the capacity to pitch at that level, they're all either hurt, struggled in 2009, or lack a major league track record. That, and the perpetual demand for high-quality starting pitching, should give Lackey a healthy market even if teams remain reluctant to spend on free agents. He throws four pitches but works primarily with his fastball, curve, and slider. The fastball is 91-94 with some riding tail, although I've seen him cut a 92 mph fastball as well. The slider is 83-85 with good tilt and some depth; it's better than his curveball, an upper 70s pitch with good depth, which he prefers to the slider. Lackey's big and well-built with easy velocity and commands all three of his main pitches. The one negative on his resume is minor arm trouble that limited him to 51 starts over the last two years, which would make me hesitant to pay him like a 33-start workhorse, even though he's built like one and was that guy from his 2002 debut until 2008.

Go big or go home

pdevine22 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:26 GMT

The Brewers must decide whether to rebuild or try and win now. Not limbo in between with mediocrity (which I think they'll probably do) Prince Fielder will be gone after 2011, and when he is gone this team will fall back considerably. If they want to conted after Fielder is gone, then trade him now and get talent that will be here for the next playoff run (hopefully a more successful one) a couple years from now when they still have Braun and Gallardo and other players begin to help.

On the other hand, they can try and win now while they still have fielder. Doing so would probably requre going after Lackey and another decent pitcher. They would have to probably overpay for him but if he helps make this a playoff team for the next couple of years then it may be worth it.

With DM in control, I don't have much confidence in him doing the ladder because I'm becoming convinced that all he can do is make bad teams decent, and not make decent teams great

Roy Halladay

ghostdog_on_the_beach — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:39:42 GMT

I am convinced that the only way the Hardy trade and Melvin's unwillingness to even think about moving Fielder makes a wits bit of sense is if the Brewers are clearing salary to make a run for Halladay.

The Blue Jays still are trying to sell off Halladay, and I believe Lawrie, another prospect plus an arm for example will get this done.

The Jays have made it a priority to get Halladay off the books.

. I know the Brewers and Jays are talking (a source on the East Coast). I would be shocked if Halladay is not a Brewer soon.

Sheet's coming back somewhere

jackpinelouie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:11:30 GMT

By Jerry Crasnick
ESPN.com
Archive

Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin caught reporters slightly off guard at the GM meetings in Chicago this week when he observed that "no one has heard from" former Brewers right-hander Ben Sheets. More than one media outlet took the comment as a sign that Sheets might be backing off an attempted comeback in 2010.

Sheets

According to Sheets' agent, that interpretation couldn't be further from the truth.

Agent Casey Close said that Sheets is doing "very well" in his rehab from flexor tendon surgery and plans to be 100 percent by the start of spring training. Close also anticipates no shortage of interest from clubs in the coming weeks.

"We have already heard from a number of teams inquiring about Ben's health and availability for 2010," Close said in an e-mail Friday to ESPN.com. "I will tell you that he has a very good chance to be one of the most impactful free agents, without question."

Sheets, 31, made four All-Star teams in Milwaukee and established a reputation as one of baseball's most formidable "stuff" pitchers despite a career record of 86-83. His best season came in 2004, when he posted a 12-14 record with a 2.70 ERA and 264 strikeouts in 237 innings.

But after three straight 200-inning seasons, Sheets took a step backward because of injuries. He made five trips to the disabled list from 2005 to 2007 with a variety of arm ailments and an inner ear infection that led to vertigo.

Sheets was on the verge of signing an incentive-laden contract with Texas just before spring training when an MRI exam confirmed the torn flexor tendon in his right elbow. He underwent surgery last February, with a projected recovery time of six to 10 months.

"While we gave some initial thought to [Sheets] pitching at some point during the 2009 season, it was not worth risking any sort of setback, so Ben kept his steady schedule," Close said.

Sheets and his advisers plan to cite a recent historical parallel in their sales pitch to potential suitors. In 2004, Andy Pettitte, then 32, had flexor tendon surgery performed by Dr. James Andrews, the same doctor who later operated on Sheets. Pettitte posted a 17-9 record with a 2.39 ERA in 2005 and has averaged 210 innings pitched in the past five seasons.

If healthy, Sheets is likely to attract considerable interest in a thin market for starting pitching. Most executives see a significant drop-off in free-agent starters after John Lackey. That could prompt teams to try to upgrade via trade, with Atlanta's Javier Vazquez and Derek Lowe, Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo, and Detroit's Edwin Jackson among the names that have been mentioned in early speculation.

Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux, who worked with Sheets in Milwaukee, has publicly expressed his admiration for Sheets. Melvin and the Brewers have also indicated they might be interested in a reunion.

A National League executive speculated that the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels and Twins are among the other clubs that might be players for Sheets, depending on how much money the pitcher wants.

Three front-office officials envisioned a late-developing market for Sheets, with the action likely to heat up in January and possibly extend into February. The consensus is that Sheets will have to audition for clubs, much as Kris Benson, Pedro Martinez, Mark Mulder and other injury-rehab pitchers have done in recent years.

"You're going to have to go through the medical reports and at least have some chance to observe him on the mound, because nobody has seen him pitch in more than a year," an American League assistant general manager said. "I think a lot of teams have questions that they would need some clarity about."

Executives said interest in Sheets could hinge on how much guaranteed money he expects. If he's willing to take a contract with a relatively low base salary and lots of incentives, it could expand the market for him. Sheets made $12.125 million in 2008.

"There are plenty of teams looking to take a low-level flier on him, but I don't know if he's going to be willing to do that,'' an NL executive said. "It could get interesting. It's really all in his hands."

Sheets 18 K game on MLB Network

klwillis45 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:25:58 GMT

5:30pm CDT 11/14/2009