A’s Review: Ben Sheets

Heading into this season, many figured that the A’s primary strength was going to be their  starting pitching. The A’s rotation at the beginning of the season included pitchers Ben Sheets, Justin Duchscherer, Dallas Braden, Brett Anderson and Gio Gonzalez. Ben Sheets, who signed with the team during the off-season for $10 million, was supposed to be the team’s ace, but the deal never panned out according to plan.

The A’s took a gamble on Sheets, and lost miserably. A’s GM/VP Billy Beane also took a ton of heat as well, as many baseball analysts criticized the deal. In return for $10 million, the A’s got 20 starts out of Sheets and a 4-9 record. Sheets recorded just 119.1 innings of work, and opponents hit .267 off the right-hander. While his stats did not impress many people, his influence in the clubhouse had a positive effect with the younger players like Anderson, Cahill and Gonzalez.

Sheets really never found a groove during the course of the season, and really never resembled the vintage-Sheets who was named to four NL All-Star games. Sheets, who was shut down for the remainder of the season back in July, will likely miss the entire 2011 season. It’s unknown whether or not Sheets will play again, since he will need to undergo extensive rehabilitation with no guarantee that a team will sign him. In his career, Sheets owns a 90-92 record along with a 3.79 ERA.