Well it seems as though my "expert" anylsis of the case of Ben Sheets was faulty to say the least. According to recent reports Ben is going under the knife for flexor tendon surgery on his eblow, a surgery that will likely force him to miss the entire 2009 season. What's worse is Sheets was close to signing a 2 year deal with the rangers until these eblow problems surfaced and the contract was put on hold indefintely. Now he's got no job, no one to pay for his surgery and his career as a major league pitcher in doubt.
I for one feel for the guy, he's pitched on lousy teams his whole career that didn't give him the run support he needed to distinguish himself as one of the game's best (Bill James lists his 2004 season as the second worst bad luck season for a pitcher going 12-14 but with a 2.70era striking out 264 in 237 innnings) and the one year they're good and make the playoffs he's too injured to take the mound in the brew crew's first playoff series since 1982. In addition he's had a run of bad luck in injuries that has also hurt his reputation by being regarded as "injury prone." And now after all the good he's done he gets some more bad luck, getting injured in his contract year and now he's looking at the prospect of being jobless for awhile.
Of course this is a business and baseball teams are not in the business of awarding multi-year deals with guys who are down on their luck. I don't blame the rangers for withdrawing their contract offer to a guy who won't even pitch for at least half of the length of contract. Still, I hope Sheets can rebound from this set back, get healthy and return to form quickly, he's only 30 years old there's still hope, but its not looking too good for the national league all-star game starter.
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