Is Ben Sheets the "Best" Brewer pitcher of all time?

I was planning on writing this post some time ago after Ben Sheets declined arbitration from the Brewers (assuming he was indeed gone) but as time went on and he didn't sign with anybody, the odds of him coming back to the Crew seemed to be increasing by the day. But with his elbow injuring knocking him out for an extended period of time, I figured its time to take a look at Sheets' Brewers' career and compare him to some of the other pitchers in Brewers history.

This will be more of a subjective view than objective (That's what I mean when I say "best"), but I still think it's a good topic of discussion. I also will be ignoring some guys who only played with the Crew for a brief period of time...for purposes of this argument (Obviously, we could just say Don Sutton or CC Sabathia were the best pitchers to ever wear a Brewer uniform...I'll be ignoring Rollie Fingers as well).

Ben Sheets

Definitely the overall best pitcher of the last 20 years for the team. Golden Boy. 1st round draft pick. Olympic gold medalist. Power fastball with a deadly curve. When he was on, he was unhittable. Pitched over 1400 innings over the last 8 years. Career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4-1. ERA of 3.72. Even though he got hurt AGAIN down the stretch last year, he still was the 2nd most important pitcher on the first playoff team in 26 years (3 shutouts over 31 starts). His 2004 season was just an absolutely sick statistical season (as I've stated before). If he weren't pitching for one of the worst teams in baseball his W-L record would have shown it. 237 innings, 264 K's v. 32 walks (EGAD!!), ERA of 2.70 and a sub-1 WHIP. Dude was a force to be reckoned with. He fell out of favor with some fans the last few years (I'll include myself in that boat somewhat) with some of his fluky injuries, but even with his injuries he still pitched each year effectively when he was on the mound. The least amount of starts he made was 17 back in 2006.

Teddy Higuera

Best Brewer starting pitcher in the late 80's. Probably the best pitcher to have come from Los Mochis, Mexico (although I did no research to back that claim up). Came STORMING out of the gates in his MLB career with 4 straight years of 200+ innings, sub-4 ERA (two of those sub-3), and minimum of 15 wins (1 year was a 20 game winner). After that, injuries derailed him. People always complain that Sheets didn't earn his money after getting his 4 year deal. Hey...at least Sheets pitched over half the time. Higuera got 13 Million after the 1990 season, then proceeded to tear his rotator cuff and only won 5 games in 4 years after he got his money.
Moose Haas

Moose was before my time, but he's one of those guys your Dad or Uncle brings up when talking about the early 80's ("Moose?? Oh yeah...solid pitcher"). Pitched 8 full seasons for the crew. I'll give him the "solid" tag, but was definitely below stud level. He won Game 4 of the 82 ALCS...so...I don't know...he's got that going for him. For whatever reason, he strikes me as a kind of Dave Bush type pitcher (always just sort of there...4th starter type stuff...consistent), but obviously right now Moose had a better career then Bush.
Mike Caldwell

Probably the guy you could make the strongest case for "best" Brewer pitcher besides Sheets. Not a homegrown Brewer, but still played 7+ seasons with the team. Ace of staff. Pitched a RIDICULOUS 293 innings in 1978 with a 2.36 ERA but didn't get a single Cy Young vote (Hey...tough break...check out the season of the guy who won it...good god). While were on the topic of accolades, according to his baseball reference page, Caldwell was never an all-star!? Is this possible? Caldwell's got the postseason experience to boot. Won 2 games in the 82 World Series. I would imagine all the old-school Brewer fans would say he is the best no question. Not sure I could argue it.
Jim Slaton

Longest tenured Brewer pitcher with 12 seasons under his belt. Another "solid" guy. Close to Moose Haas' level. Had some control issues his entire career (1004 walks v 1191 K's).

From looking through this exercise, I would have to say it comes down to Sheets vs Caldwell...

Go on record in the comments section with your guy. My stance is this, if I needed to throw one of these guys out on the hill for 1 game (height of their careers with no injury problems) I'm taking Sheets. Not sure if that makes him the "best..."

Open letter to Doug Melvin

Dear Doug,
Let me help you out. I'm sure you got Ben Sheets' cell. Shoot him a text. Here it is: "Ben, 2 years $21M, Ship it now, lv Dougie Fresh"

I'll get back to you tomorrow about that golf trip you want to me to come on.

Sincerely,
WozisZeus

In other news, barring some MRI that shows structural damage, if Ben Sheets ends up signing with some chump team for under this amount I'm not going to be happy. Again, for this price and years, it just seems like a good fit for the Crew.

In subsequent other news, I'm buying a Trevor Hoffman jersey.

Ben Sheets accepting arbitration?

Interesting little development if you happened to watch Baseball Tonight last night. Apparently Steve Phillips is now stating that he expects Ben Sheets WILL accept the Brewers offer of arbitration and lock him in to the team for 1 more year. Click here and then go the right side of the screen and click on the "NL Central Hot Stove" for the video clip of it.

This is in contradiction to basically every other report that's been out there so far, and also would appear on the surface to be not reasonable for Sheets. Plus, didn't Sheets himself state that he had "other" offers?

Granted this is a report by Steve Phillips (who's a donkey), but since he reported it you've got to take it for what it's worth.

From both sides' point of view, it actually doesn't appear to be a bad play. Sheets will probably end up getting around $14-15M for a 1 year deal with the Crew. The Crew gets their "ace" pitcher (the 1 glaring need this offseason) at a "reasonable" price with low risk because of the 1-year deal.

Sheets gets paid his money ($15M)...and if he plays through a relatively injury free year he can get his 3-4 year deal next year somewhere else. The JS article I linked above states his agent thinks a 2 year deal is out there somewhere for him, but doesn't mention price. What if the 2 year deals were only in the 20-22M range? There's some price-risk analysis that Sheets is playing there. Does he accept the $22M guaranteed now or does he wait 1 more year with $15M guaranteed and hope to have a big year and score something bigger after next year? Fascinating stuff.

Two other things to note (somewhat speculative):
-There has been no talk of the actual teams in the mix here with these 2 year offers. Hell...what if it's like...the Nationals and Rockies or something? Sheets can stay for 1 more year for good money AND the Brewers are a contender again. That's got to factor into his decision somewhat. Sheets got a taste of success last year and wasn't able to be a part of the playoffs. That's got to eat him up a little.
-Maybe the market for pitchers outside of CC just isn't a big as was once thought. You know...economy and all. Sheets probably thought he was going to break the bank with a decent 4 year deal but maybe the GM's have wised up when it comes to giving big bucks to questionable pitchers. Maybe it's just not going to happen for Sheets this particular offseason.

You know what. I'm sold. I'll back this. We get Sheets for 1 year. We maintain depth in the starting rotation ranks with McClung as the 6th man. Our primary need is solved for one more year and we get another year to see what Jeffress can do most likely at Triple A. It's also fiscally responsible long-term.

Thanks to the Great One for the tip.

Why Is This Even A Question?

This seems like a no-brainer to me, but scribes, including Ken Rosenthal and Tom Haudricourt, are wondering whether the Brewers will offer salary arbitration to Ben Sheets today.

Reasons why I think you offer him arbitration:

• He probably won't accept arbitration.
• If they don't offer arbitration, the Brewers give up two high draft picks.
• If he accepts, they have Sheets on a 1-year deal at an estimated $13 or $14 million. I'm down with a 1-year deal for Sheets.
• If he accepts and the Brewers don't want him, they could always trade him - I'm sure there are teams that would want Sheets on a 1-year deal for a reasonable (pitching-wise, anyway) salary.

If they don't offer him arbitration, the only rational explanation is that there is something major going on with his elbow.

Disagree?

UPDATE:

Haudricourt is reporting that the Brewers offered arbitration to Sabathia, Sheets and Shouse. This makes sense to me.

WHO DAT?

Who dat? What dat sayin? Who dat sayin they gonna beat dem Saints?

Apparently Ben Sheets likes to say "Who dat?" every now and again.

In case you can't tell (picture taken by cell phone), that is a picture of Mr. Ben Sheets in the Harrah's Casino at about 4am after last week's Monday night game against the Saints. Apparently he loves Reggie Bush and $25 minimum blackjack. Good for him.

My buddies asked him about his contract situation. He said he didn't want to get into specifics, but that he had two offers on the table...neither by the Brewers. So it appears that's it for the Southern boy.

On a side note about the "Who dat?" chant...I'm still up in the air about how I feel about it. While on the surface it's ridiculously redneck and idiotic, I sort of like it. Don't know why. All I know is that I wasn't a fan of it walking out of the Superdome last week and having every other good ol boy screaming "Who dat?" or "Ya'll motherfu**ers are stinky cheese!" in my face.

Sheets Has a Hamstring Pull In His Forearm

Buster Olney (via MLBTraderumors.com) exchanged emails with Ben Sheets' agent Casey Close, who had this to say about Sheeter's latest injury.

"His forearm muscle [strain] was the equivalent of a hamstring pull and it simply needed time to rest. No real treatment was needed. He's fine and should be 100 percent in a month."

100% in a month? Maybe. 100% next September? Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

My Condo's On Fire - Anybody Hungry?

Apparently, someone tried to smoke Ben Sheets out of his condo, perhaps to encourage him to pitch this week rather than following his usual routine of ending the season injured? (This is pure conjecture on my part).

Alas, if by causing the building to be evacuated they were trying to make him go over to Miller Park to work out, they didn't succeed, as he went to Mo's instead for a steak. Typical.

Down to a 50/50 shot

So it's come down to this...after a ridiculous September swoon, our team (which on September 1st had a freaking 94% chance at making the playoffs), is now about at a 48% chance.

It's so ridiculous that they couldn't get out of Philly winning at least 1 game. 1 game and the outlook is SO much better. Go ahead and look at the current playoff odds report, and look at the 1 day change. It's almost 19%. 1 game!!!

It's not even worth discussing in detail the Philly series or the month of September in general. It really isn't. Everybody knows the problem (offense). That can turn around in so many different ways that aren't even quantifiable. We just have to hope the offense can turn it around somewhat and our starting pitchers bear down a little.

So it comes down to this: a 50/50 chance with 12 games to go...6 of which are against the Cubs. With 12 games left...6 of those games will be started by CC and Ben Sheets. Those 6 games...are now MUST WIN games. At this point...hopefully our two big guns can take care of business in those 6 games, and then our other guys can get a split or better for a 9-3 or 10-2 run.

Nobody knows what it going to happen (Hell, we could go 6-6 and Philly and Houston could both tank).

At this point in the season, I see no reason to get negative about things outside of one's control. This is the team we're dealt with, you've just got to hope they've got enough to pull it out. With CC and Sheets, I like our chances in ANY playoff series...where luck plays such a factor with the performance of just 1 or 2 players. We just need to get there...and we're down to a 50/50 chance.

Fucking Go Crew.

Brewers-Cardinals Preview

Milwaukee plays St. Louis tonight in the first game of a 2-game series.

Ben Sheets - Winner!

Our good friends at Wrigleyville ran a poll asking "Who will hit DL first," Ben Sheets or Kerry Wood? 69% of the voters said Sheets, they would be 100% wrong.

"60% of the time, it works every time."

Gasp! Sheets to Test the Free Agent Market!

Why is this story a surprise to anyone?

Really? Because the Brewers didn't negotiate an extension with him last offseason, Ben Sheets is going to test the free agent market?

If the Brewers would have offered a big money extension to Sheets in the offseason, Brewers fans would have been called for Melvin's head due to his gross incompetence. What a waste of money! He always gets hurt! Blah blah blah.

But now that Sheets has produced a sterling first half with only one minor injury, people are falling all over themselves in terror that the Brewers are going to lose Sheets.

You know what? I'd hate to lose Sheets. He's the only guy on this team with ace stuff when he's right (Gallardo included).

But I'm also resigned to the fact that he'll probably be somebody else's injury headache for the next several years, because Milwaukee has been down that road before with Ben. They're not going to give him $18 million a year. It just isn't going to happen. Somebody else probably will. It's hard to find a true #1 starter, which is why he's going to get paid.

Would it be nice if he gave the Brewers a "home town" discount because of the last 4 injury-ravaged years he spent as a highly compensated Brewer? Sure. But we know that's not going to happen either. He has pitched just enough, and shown ace stuff when healthy, to entice some team to sign him to the big deal, injuries be damned.

Because we root for the Brewers, a team that can't afford to make an $18 million a year mistake, I've accepted the fact that Sheets will be pitching for somebody else next year.