Ben Sheets

Some of the Chicago journalists are reporting that the Cubs are interested in Ben Sheets. MLB Trade Rumors reports the rumor and then has a semi-denial attributed to Cubs brass to the effect that his contract demands do not fit in with the Cubs' budget. That's putting it mildly. Sheets apparently wants two years guaranteed at $10-12 M. Quite a deal for a guy who didn't pitch at all last year and is coming off elbow surgery.

Perhaps the Cubs really want to replace the injury-prone Harden with someone who can equal or exceed the latter's stays on the DL. Because here is the real record. Sheets has won 86 games in eight seasons against 83 losses. Admittedly the Brewers were not exactly a powerhouse team through any of that stretch, but he was arguably the ace of a really bad staff. His best year statistically was 2004 when, although he had a losing record, he pitched over 200 innings and had a great ERA, WHIP, and SO/BB ratio. The next three years, Sheets missed a lot of starts with a variety of injuries that seemed to be tied to a back muscle injury in 2005 before he recovered in 2008 with a 13 win season. But he broke down with elbow problems in September of that year and hasn't pitched since.

So I know that the usual suspects among the press have penciled him into the rotation, but if I were Hendry, I would think twice about rolling the dice on this guy. He is only acceptable if you get him cheap on an incentive-laden deal, but it's no good if the guy doesn't pitch, is it? He still takes up a roster spot and bumps someone out of the rotation while he is on the active roster. Assuming the Cubs go with Gorzelanny as the fifth starter, what you get at worst is probably a .500 pitcher who eats up 180 innings or so and wins 10 or 12 games. What do you want from a fifth starter?

What Hendry and Piniella get is an excuse. They evidently have no confidence in their evaluation process, so, in their minds, Lilly is a risk, Wells might not pitch as well as he did last season, Zambrano is inconsistent, etc., etc., etc. That's the nature of professional sport. But, hey, if you go out and spend money on a guy with a big reputation and he fails, well, there it is. You tried. Just like you tried with Bradley last year. Heck, he might have made a difference.