In the biggest baseball deal of the day, the Oakland Athletics signed former Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets to a 1 year, $10 million deal that could get even richer if Sheets hits incentives. Sheets certainly has a lot of talent, as a 4 time All Star with a career 3.72 ERA. The problem is that Sheets, who is 31 years old, is only 11 months removed from elbow surgery and has been injury prone throughout his career. So is this a good deal for the A’s? Ultimately, yes.
Sheets is a veteran who easily becomes the A’s oldest and most experienced starting pitcher. He can provide some veteran savvy and leadership to a young, up and coming pitching staff that features Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson. The A’s rotation becomes pretty darn good if Sheets and Justin Duchscherer (2 time All Star) both can stay healthy, Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson continue to develop, and either Gio Gonzalez, Vin Mazzaro or Trevor Cahill improves into a legitimate number 5 starter–that’s a playoff quality staff.
Problem is that Sheets staying healthy for an entire season isn’t likely. And it’s also not guaranteed that he’ll be the same guy after surgery. Regardless, I like the move. Even if Sheets ends up on the DL for a portion of the season, he’s generally known as a good club house presence and can help the young pitchers moving along. If the A’s are going to have any shot at winning this year it’s going to be by relying on pitching and defense, as the offense is nothing to write home about, but the defense looks solid with Coco Crisp, Rajai Davis, and Ryan Sweeney as a great defensive outfield. The A’s have money to spend, so why not gamble on a potential All Star quality pitcher for a short term commitment?
A lot of people are objecting to this deal because they think that the A’s money would have been better spent getting a quality bat for the lineup. However, it’s not like the A’s didn’t try to get a bat in the offseason, the problem is there’s no way they can get a major guy like Bay or Holliday, since they don’t have the money, and they got outbid for the guys they thought were in their reach (Beltre, Scutaro, Carroll). So with the money saved from those non-deals, why not spend some on a high quality pitcher who, if the A’s don’t contend, could be great trade bait to get a bat in July? The A’s are also reportedly still in the hunt to get Johnny Damon (although I don’t think that’s really the kind of bat the team needs). Plus, a lot of the A’s power should come from its farm system, with Michael Taylor, Adrian Cardenas, and Chris Carter as the team’s hitting future.
I don’t think this move makes the A’s real playoff contenders, but I think it’s great for their young pitchers and could make the A’s a surprising team if their young guys learn how to hit. Overall, I think it’s a good move.
