New York Nine

Now it is only mid-January. There is still a possibility that the market for Sheets is still biding its time before they make him an offer that comes somewhat close to being worthy to his talents, but from what I hear around the rumor mill it isn't good for Mr. Sheets, but why? Only six months ago he was the National League starter for the All-Star game, one of his four appearances before his 30th birthday, dazzling hitters with his high-powered fastball and his knee-buckling curveball. And yet here he is, mid-January and it seems as though no one wants to touch the guy with a ten foot pole, but why? Let's go to the stats:

Year	Tm	Lg	G	GS	ShO	W	L	ERA	S	Op	H	IP	Hit	K	BB	HBP	WHIP				HR
2004	MIL	NL	34	34	0	12	14	2.70	0	0	0	237.0	201	264	32	4	0.98				25
2005	MIL	NL	22	22	0	10	9	3.33	0	0	0	156.7	142	141	25	2	1.07				19
2006	MIL	NL	17	17	0	6	7	3.82	0	0	0	106.0	105	116	11	2	1.09				9
2007	MIL	NL	24	24	0	12	5	3.82	0	0	0	141.3	138	106	37	1	1.24				17
2008	MIL	NL	31	31	3	13	9	3.09	0	0	0	198.3	181	158	47	1	1.15				17

Now as you can see, one of the more glaring red flags is his innings over the course of these stats and even before that, but what I think is important here is the nature of his injury problems. Here is a breakdown of his, um breakdowns

• In 2005, he sustained what was termed a "viral infection" of the inner ear, and missed 30 games due to dizziness and altered balance.


• A torn latissimus dorsi muscle in his right shoulder occurred in late August and ended his season.


• In the offseason, he had a microdiscectomy back surgery to correct a herniated disc in his lumbar spine (low back). While this is considered to be a minor back surgery, it should be noted that no back surgery is "minor." Having any spine procedure as a 27-year-old is somewhat concerning, and leads me to wonder how his overall core conditioning is.


• The 2006 season saw Sheets begin the year on the DL due to a posterior shoulder strain.


• Tendinitis of the right shoulder landed him back on the DL in early May. He spent a great deal of time on the DL with this injury—a span of 72 games passed before he returned to action.
  
• A torn tendon in his right middle finger sidetracked his 2007 campaign; he was sent to the DL in July and missed a course of 40 games.


• After returning for a few starts, a minor hamstring strain was enough for him to miss the final eight games of the regular season.


• He has also dealt with an array of minor injuries that did not require much, if any, missed time (right pectoral strain, left groin strain).

A fair amount of injuries for sure, but what is important is there is no real consistent nagging problem. Unlike a guy like say, AJ Burnett, who's injuries are almost entirely elbow-based, Sheets' injuries seem to be a more case of just bad luck. A hamstring injury here, a back injury there, and Sheets gets the dreaded "injury prone" tag. This is in contrast to a Burnett who has had elbow problems for years and you can pretty much bank on him having eblow problems as he gets older becuase well, you just don't heal as well as you get older. Now I'm not saying its entirely undeserved, but Burnett, my proverbial straw man here, is also injury prone, but like Sheets he's coming off a big year and parlayed that into a big payday, why can't Sheets do the same? The reality of it seems to be the the timing of his injury, right at the end of the season in the heat of a pennant race his tricep gave him problems and forced him to miss some crucial games down the sterech. He did try unsuccessfully to come back for a start and so his very productive season, nearly 200 innings, a tidy 3.09ERA 185ks to only 47 walks seems to have fallen to the wayside, but why? Some have cited the additional tag of a first round draft choice, but that didn't stop the yankees, nor did it stop the braves giving Lowe, a pitcher eight years his senior, a big fat deal, so what gives? I for one cannot understand it, I have heard mururs that his pesky "injury prone" tag is hurting him, but the reality of the situation is he's proven to be less injury prone than Burnett, averaging more starts, less nagging injuries and younger! There are many teams out there that would benefit greatly from having an arm like Sheets in their rotation, I had hoped that would have been my team, but alas we already have our injury prone pitcher quota filled. A team with some money to spend should jump on this opportunity because right now his value is apparently very low where you can sign him for a reasonable deal for only a few years, I'll bet you could even get away with a two year deal if you wanted to. Because all this talent is just sitting here waiting to be picked up and to show again that he is very much the pitcher that can dazzle you with brilliance, injury prone or not.