Two things about Ben's season that should be noted. First, as I have mentioned previously the club has determined to take a "hands off" approach with Ben. Previously, if Ben tripped walking onto the field the trainer would rush to his side and an ambulance called. Now, it's 1952 and we are teaching the kids to swim. Go to the end of the pier, toss them in and if they bob back up they know how to swim.

Do his pitch counts matter? Yes. Yost and Co. are not actively trying to get Ben hurt. But they have accepted that given Sheets history he could get hurt getting out of bed. You need to "ride the wave" while it lasts. So yes he has had two games within the last month of 120 plus pitches. Yes he has five straight starts of 100 plus pitches with a high of 118. Milwaukee (and Ben) are living in the "now" because his next start may simply not happen.

This approach is offset by Yost's specific change in rotation management. Previously, Ned worked mightily to keep certain guys on a regular 5 day schedule, especially Sheets. This involved skipping other guys in the rotation. It never worked particularly well since Sheets kept getting hurt while the other guys crabbed about the irregular pattern.

So this year Ned (or Ted Simmons if you believe the chatter) decided to stick to the rotation and if that meant guys working on six days instead of five that was ok. And to a man it's been well received. Sheets, Suppan and Manny Parra have all mentioned appreciating the additional rest that will crop up due to off days.

I thought this additional information may be of interest.

I hope the Braves sign Sheets, if only to keep from having to face him ever again. Images from his 18 K game are still seared into my memory.

Is there any chance at all that Sheets will re-sign with the Brewers or is he 100% certain to leave?

Harveys:

Milwaukee (and Ben) are living in the "now" because his next start may simply not happen.

And I support this. Most of Sheets' injuries over the past few years have been of the freak variety -- not really overuse-type injuries, more "I got out of bed and my fingernail fell off" kind of thing. Plus, he's 29 and in decent physical condition; he doesn't need to be treated with the same kind of pitch count kid gloves with which you'd handle a 22-year-old kid.

Richard:

Is there any chance at all that Sheets will re-sign with the Brewers or is he 100% certain to leave?

Well, Gagne's wasted $10million will be off the books next year, so we'll have some extra money to play with. That said, it's hard for a team with the Brewers' resources to take a chance with the kind of money Ben will demand on a guy with his injury history. It kind of depends who's out there on the market. At this point (and this is a wild guess), I'd say there's only about a 20% chance of Ben Sheets remaining a Brewer next year.

Richard:

Given the market and if Sheets avoids his usual second half swan dive somebody will sign him for more than Melvin is willing to play.

So there is a "chance". But it ain't much......

I could see them resigning him if no other team will go above $15-16 million per year over 5 years. If some team offers Zito money, I don't know if they will/can match or exceed that.

They do have a lot of money coming free, but they'll need that to resign Sheets, pay arbitration awards, and resign or replace other guys.

But:

Sheets $11 mill
Cameron $5 mill (they'll have to pay a buyout of 3/4 of a million)
Turnbow $3 mill
Gagne $10 mill
Mota $3 mill
Torres $3 mill (they'll probably exercise their $3.75 mill option, the way it's going)
Counsell $3 mill (they have to pay a buyout of $400,000)
Vargas $1 mill
Capuano $4 mill
Shouse $2 mill
Munson $.5 mill (huh? did they really sign him to a guaranteed deal? I forget if they did)

Anyway, that's about $46 million (more than half of their payroll) coming off the books. Prince, Hardy, Weeks, McClung, Bush, and Hart will all be looking for raises in arbitration, but the rest of the team are on guaranteed contracts, still in their first 3 years of service time, or should be able to be easily resigned for similar deals (Branyan, Kapler) if the team is interested.

I see them resigning (or using their option on) Torres and maybe Shouse, but the rest is pretty much dead weight, with the exception of Cameron. However, there's no way they use a $10 million option on him if he keeps hitting like he has been (sub-.300 OBP). His defense has been excellent though, so maybe I'm wrong, but the Brewers have a ton of OF options.

I think more than anything else, it's the years that Sheets will command more than the per year salary that makes it a difficult decision for the Brewers. Although Suppan coming off the teams books in a couple of years might factor in.

Good summary Joe.

If the reports on Yovani are shaky that will obviously impact the Brewers decision-making.

Suppan is doing what he is paid to do. I think Parra is for real. Bush is just filler for now. He stays healthy. He bathes regularly. That's the extent of his contribution.

McClung? Cripes, who knows.........

It seems to me Sheets is making the same transition that the Roys Halladay and Oswalt did--pitching more to contact and trading K's for ground balls as he ages. His GB rate is up a full 10 points from last year. Perhaps this is helping him to stay healthy?

He bathes regularly.

Not sure about that one, Harv--he kinda stinks. ;-)

"I see them resigning (or using their option on) Torres..."

FWIW, before Sully was traded to the Brewers, he was talking about 2008 potentially being his last season. That plan may have changed, who knows, but retirement has crossed his mind at least once or twice.

I will officially renounce all the negative things I have said re: Tom Hicks if he steps up to the plate and overpays to get Sheets into a Ranger uniform.

The Rangers should have a payroll somewhere in the 2nd quintile, not somewhere in the 4th. Assuming he doesn't do something to wear out his welcome between now and the end of the season, Bradley will get a large increase (and deserve every penny). Blalock has a team option at a reasonable price if he's healthy, but I'm beginning to doubt that more and more. I just don't see a lot of hugely escalating contracts for the Rangers, and there are some that will go away (Jason Jennings for one).

I know better than to get my hopes up, however.

Bradley will get a large increase (and deserve every penny).

How much is he really worth considering his inability to stay in the lineup? He's been great so far this year, but it's not like his true talent level is a 1.100 OPS.

I think more than anything else, it's the years that Sheets will command more than the per year salary that makes it a difficult decision for the Brewers.

This is pretty much every pitcher now, though. Most teams will pay premium starters $10-$15 million a year, it's paying them beyond 4 that makes it painful.

How much is [Bradley] really worth considering his inability to stay in the lineup? He's been great so far this year, but it's not like his true talent level is a 1.100 OPS.

That's not a question I feel qualified to answer. It seems to me that he needs to DH the majority of the time, though he is not necessarily limited to DH duties (he can play RF once or twice a week to let someone else slot in the DH slot to get a half-day of rest). However, I think he has enough pride to want to play the OF as much as possible.

Obviously he's not a 190 OPS+ guy long term. Is 130 a fair estimate? He's only topped that twice in his career, and his career average is 116. However, he put up a 153 last season in his limited PT, and this year he's far exceeding that.

Were I Jon Daniels (which I'm not, obviously), I'd try to see if I could get him locked up right now for the next 3 years or so. He's making $5.25M this season. Would he be enticed by 3/$24M? Perhaps not, but I don't think it would hurt to ask.

I just did some back-of-the-envelope calculations: If Bradley gets to 500 PA (he's at 272 PA now) with the remaining PA at his career averages, he'd be hitting the market with something like a .306/.412/.545 line (which looks remarkably similar to last year's .306/.402/.545 line). I'd say 3/$24 or 3/$27 is reasonable for that level of performance (even if it's reasonable to only expect 1300 PAs over those three seasons), but if he hits the open market, would someone give him 4/$44? I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest.

I also want to mention that I don't think it's coincidence that Jason Kendall shows up and the team sees some improvement in consistency in pitching performance. The starters RAVE about Kendall.

Part of this is relative. By the end of 2007 Johnny Estrada was persona non grata with most of the pitchers for various reasons. Kendall is benefitting from just being competent.

But part of it is that Jason really seems to work to understand what different folks need. He has coached, massaged, coaxed, cajoled, and verbally spanked guys like Manny Parra through a tough inning or extend for an extra inning or two more than once.

He isn't an uber catching savant. But Kendall has made a contribution........

Plus, pitchers love having a catcher who hits after them in the lineup.

Wallbangers Posted: June 24, 2008 at 06:57 AM (#2830630)

Now, it's 1952 and we are teaching the kids to swim. Go to the end of the pier, toss them in and if they bob back up they know how to swim.

- harvey, you know i just LUUUUUUVVVV you and believe that you walked 10 miles to skool. in the snow. up hill. both ways. AND YOU LIKED IT!!!

but he!! will freeze before i'll ever believe that any mother in 1952 pushed her child offn the end of a pier to drown or swim. and i disbelieve that if it was the father pushing his kids offn the end of that pier - he would calmly wander back in the kitchen and announce to his wife - remember how much you were complaining about how hard it is taking care of 5 kids? well, they all sank so you can just take it easy for a while...

- and, by the way, cecil cooper is so awful as a manager that he makes ned yost look like a geeeeenyuss

my mom was born in 1952 and that's (partially) how she taught me and my siblings to swim. When we popped up, she even pushed us back under. It all worked out though, we all were lifeguards for a period of time and several of us were on swim teams. That doesn't mean it was fun at the time though.

My old man pushed me off a pier in 1964 or thereabouts, in order to teach me to swim. I sank like a stone. To his credit, he did fish me out, but he never tried it again.

And a hearty ditto to Harveys' comments about Kendall. He gets ripped on so often that it's nice to see some appreciation for him. I just regret that Gallardo's not getting a full year of work with him (or is Yovanni hanging around with the team? I have no idea what he's doing now).

Lisa:

Without getting into details my wife is an excellent swimmer. So as a goof I threw one of the kids in while she was getting ready to wade in with them to begin a lesson. Our daughter popped up and began paddling around.

As my wife got done shrieking I explained to her that my "method" was MUCH simpler.

By the way, when I say "threw" it was mostly a drop and I had told my daughter we were going to "scare" Mom.

Of course, I didn't expect her to actually swim.

joe,

there is incredible currents near a pier and undertoe. plus you never know if something washed up under there and the kid could hit it. plus it is a LONG way down to the water and the kid could hit wrong especially if he/she is screaming and kicking all the way down. it is a good way to get your kid dead. and fast. you throw your kid offn a pier and they sink like a stone was your mother ready to dive in find the sunken kid and do CPR right there out in the water?
and if your mother pushed you back under and you breathed in water then what was she gonna do?

harvey,

that sounds a LOT more like it. was it your grrrl who got, um, opinionated (ahem) when she was a teenager? is she the one who became a doctor?

"plus you never know if something washed up under there and the kid could hit it."

Like a drowned hobo. How's THAT for childhood trauma?

"We all float down here, Georgie!"

Lisa:

Actually, once it worked with the oldest (who was "louder" than anyone) we did it for fun with the rest. The second oldest daughter became the teacher with the two youngest boys because she was a lifeguard and liked her brothers. The oldest couldn't stand anyone growing up.

harvey,

- grinning

your oldest daughter sounds like a handful. and people always think that little grrrls are all docile and obedient, like i was

i am afraid to have a daughter. though knowing my luck ill have nothing but daughters... needless to say as they hit puberty my gun collection will be growing

My mom did it for fun too. She is/was a great swimmer and former lifeguard so she wasn't worried about us getting swept away or drowning. The only time I remember her being worried in the water is when her and I once swam about a mile out into Lake Michigan while a fog simultaneously (and surreptitiously) rolled in behind us. We weren't 100% sure which way the shore was when we decided to turn around. That could have been trouble.

Anyway, I think her rationale for pushing us back under was to make us comfortable with having our faces/heads in the water. When you watch even adults swim, a lot of them don't like to put their face in the water. Either that or she thought it was funny.

It took me 'til I was 10 to swim, and it could be related to two traumatic instances. First when I was around four, I jumped in with a float and slid right through it. I think I had swum halfway across the pool underwater before my mom got to me. A couple of years later, after my first swim lesson, I slipped off the toilet seat and cracked open the back of my head on a metal vent. Took seven stitches. Still have a scar.

Have three girls and no guns. If some young man takes inappropriate liberties, I don't want any bodily harm that may come to him traced back to me.

All three can swim, having successfully made it out of the burlap sack.

"It took me 'til I was 10 to swim, and it could be related to two traumatic instances."

And then, when you were seven, you were molested by a hot tub?

i dont care if its traced to me, ill beat the wrap somehow

meat darling,

like my daddy always said - God gives you daughters to get even with you for what you done/tried to do to every other man's daughters