Sheets to Oakland
Dave · January 26, 2010 at 10:58 am · Filed Under Mariners
The A’s have signed Ben Sheets to a reported $10 million contract for 2010, with incentives that could push his salary up even further if he pitches well. He obviously impressed teams at his outing last week, and his stock increased pretty dramatically.
Given the price, I’m glad the Mariners passed. This a huge buyer’s market, with significant quality talents sitting around looking for jobs. The M’s can spend the rest of their money in better ways.
Though I am on record above saying I would have liked Garland, let me note that I also qualified that as “but not for too much $$” and let me add to the record: $5.3M (if Rosenthal is right) is more than I would have spent for Garland. Not a whole lot more, but…enough.
Okay, this has been a good day. Sheets and Garland are gone which we didn’t want anyway, and that will make Washburn look great and he’l hopefully get snapped up. This really points towards a trade for a starting SP to fill our hole.
Damon has said in the past he’d be open to playing 1B, and a LF/1B combo is almost exactly what the M’s need for that 25th spot. Dave thinks he might come cheap (or at least less than the value he delivers).
The problems with Damon from the M’s standpoint are:
(1) He’s got a terrible arm
(2) He’s a LH hitter
(3) He’s expensive
The first isn’t a problem at 1B but would be in Safeco’s spacious LF (in Fenway’s friendly confines Manny once famously cut off one of Damon’s throws before it left the outfield). The second would be an asset in isolation (he has a swing suited to Safeco) but under current circumstances is a big problem since his entire role would be to platoon with Bradley and Kotchman, which doesn’t work when they’re LH hitters too. The third is a killer: though he may be willing to accept both a reduced role and a paycut, he probably would still cost more than the M’s are willing to pay.
So he’s both a bad fit and expensive: not a good combo.
Sheets probably isn’t enough to make the A’s competitive on his own (unless they catch lighting in a bottle with some of their kids, or make some more smart signings), but he does make them better. And if the A’s fall out of it and flip him for prospects at the deadline, this may pay off for them in the future too. While there’s a chance he’ll do more damage to the Angels and Rangers than he’ll do to the M’s, that’s a risky bet. I’m glad he didn’t end up at either of those teams, but the division race just got tighter all the same. I’m a little relieved the M’s aren’t rolling the dice with Sheets, but I’d rather have had him go to someone outside the AL West, and preferably outside the AL entirely.
Dave, do you think there is still any possibility of the Lopez for Liriano trade you speculated about earlier? It would make sense for the pitching point of view, but it puts a void in second unless we can sign hudson. Felipe Lopez doesn’t sound like a solid fit seeing how inconsistent he’s been.
How do the A’s look if they sign Damon and Branyan?
Potentially dangerous if their team can stay healthy, which is a big freaking “if”.
Damon is a possibility because they are just spending money to spend it right now, but I doubt they bring in Branyan. Regardless of what happens, we NEED to get another pitcher for the three hole. I don’t see a scenario where we get anyone as good or better then Sheets as some have been vying for, but we definitely need to get someone. That someone shall not be Jarrod Washburn either. I honestly don’t know where we are going to get this pitcher, but the only pitcher that I can see us trading for is a Liriano, Harang, or Arroyo. I would like Harang as most would, but it takes two teams to make a trade. I am actually fine with leaving the offense as is, but I doubt that it will stay the same. At least one other acquisition or trade to help out the offense. We really do need to add on another pitcher who is better then our current plethora of number 5 starters.
I think others have suggested that if we trade Lopez, then Figgins would move over to 2B and Tui would come up to play 3B. I don’t think I’d regard either of those assignments as a “void”.
ARE YOU SERIOUS? I’d take a healthy Ben Sheets for $10M anyday. Whether someone else could be had for less (i.e. Cliff Lee) is really beside the point; Sheets is a legitimate number 1 starter, and if healthy can give a team 200+ innings and 250+ K’s. If he’s not healthy, well, it’s a one year deal, no serious harm done.
Sheets has a chance to be the ace of the A’s rotation; it’s an awesome, though I hate this phrase I will use it: relatively low-risk signing.