SNY.tvBLOG NETWORKSCHEDULESTATSSTANDINGS VIDEO Headlines:

Matthew Cerrone

NYBT: Hot Stove Edition, Sheets and Pettitte
By Matthew Cerrone - Jan 7, 2009 1:45 pm

The following video of New York Baseball Today: Hot Stove Edition, which you can watch by clicking play, features me, Bronx Banter’s Alex Belth, and SNY’s Ted Berg talking about the market for Ben Sheets and Andy Pettitte:

58 Responses to “NYBT: Hot Stove Edition, Sheets and Pettitte”

  1. Metbelieve says:

    Are the Mets considering Ben Sheets? I know he is jnjury prone but he is a pretty good pitcher.

    • Kherubconamor says:

      They should offer Sheets the same initial offer they extended to Lowe….and I’d even tack on a fourth year team option…Sheets would be an Awesome addition.

      • alex242 says:

        .. kherub.. relax.. 3 years guarantee to him when no one is bidding is crazy.. i want him but we shouldn’t get that crazy

        • Kherubconamor says:

          Alex, it would be revered as a move of tremendous foresight and adroitness should Omar swoop in and pull that contract off for Sheets.

          • alex242 says:

            no no no.. we can’t go for 3 years when nobody is offering 2!! look, i love to have him, but i’d be reluctant to give this guy 3 years.. now, if we get him on a 1 year deal and he earned a contract by pitching well and stayiong heallthy i’ll be up for it.. but not now..

          • Kherubconamor says:

            Let’s say he stays healthy all year, and pitches lights out….wins a Cy Young even as a number 2 pitcher behind Santana and wins 24 games with that pen behind him…lights out in the post season….Wins the World Series MVP…what do you think he’d cost to retain? OK, that’s an extreme scenario….what’s the converse extreme? He pitches 21 games, goes 12-5…misses the end of the season….

            Now, if the first one occurs, he’d cost what? What would that year buy him on the open market? 4 years 72 million? This is Ben Sheets remember, not some no name, 1 year wonder. Now what happen in the second scenario, and he’s still signed for 12 million per for two more years here…eh, not so bad…I mean, yeah…it’d be a great loss to lose him, but I don’t mind too much penciling in Ben Sheets at 12 million for the next two years….and to hold a team option for a fourth year could be gold in the hand.

          • bucknersankles says:

            KHERUB,
            ACTUALLY IT’S PRETTY MUCH A NO BRAINER.
            PERSONALLY I’D LOVE FOR US TO SIGN HIM, MAYBE UTILIZING HIM OUT OF THE BP IN SOME CAPACITY ( ALA SMOLTZ ) WOULD NOT ONLY SPARE HIS ARM THE WEAR AND TEAR BUT GIVE US YET ANOTHER FILTHY WEAPON OUT OF THE BP.

          • Kherubconamor says:

            say* happened*….say what happened in the second scenario

          • Kherubconamor says:

            Buckner….I can’t believe Sheets is still out there….Mets would no doubt be folly not to ink him…Sheets and Ollie…forget about it…

          • bucknersankles says:

            IN ANSWER TO IT BEING AN ADROIT MOVE BY OMAR.

          • bucknersankles says:

            KHERUB,
            I AGREE, IT’S FRUSTRATING TO HAVE THESE GUY’S FLOATING AROUND ( SHEETS, MANNY ETC ) AND WE’RE JUST HUGGING THE WALL AT THE PROVERBIAL PARTY.
            THE METS HAVE A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO CRUSH THE JUGGULAR OF THE NL EAST AND WE’RE STANDING AROUND WITH OUR FINGER’S UP THE NOSE.

          • reillys5 says:

            hmmm lets revisit the last signing we gave out more years and money than ANYONE was offering……….luis castillo anyone?

  2. alex242 says:

    I HOPE TO THE LORD JESUS WE GET BEN SHEETS!!!! he is my new mancrush!!

  3. its hard to be a met fan says:

    Although he’s been linked to Texas, I can’t see the Rangers signing a third pitcher that would make over $10M per year…when all three of them would be question marks…Sheets resigning with the Brewers makes the most sense, since they already know how to go through a season with him and his injuries

  4. longislandmetsfan says:

    yeah, anything more than 1 yr is ridiculous….granted if he happens to be healthy, he is one of the best out there, but thats a really big if there…not sure i’d go on an “if” for 3 yrs

  5. Dr. Alan Lans says:

    Geez they really must be desperate for programming these days. This looks like a mathlete meeting..

  6. roman411 says:

    Not trying to brown nose but did anyone else notice that Matt sounds so much smarter and much more informed than Alex Belth? Way to represent us Mets fans Matt!

    And Belth? What kind of name is Belth? I should talk. My Eastern European last name has a consonant to vowel ratio of 5:1.

  7. therealsince86 says:

    I see the
    Rangers
    Dodgers
    Brewers
    Cardinals
    Yankee’s
    As one of the teams he ends up on.

  8. CaseStreet says:

    Joel Sherman wrote this in the Post, ” Cashman pointed out that much of the Yankee strategy the past few years has been designed with the idea of being as powerful as possible moving into the new stadium. So that explains the attempts to build up the farm system in recent years and shun some big players, but the willingness to spend $423.5 million on three big free agents this offseason.”

    What does that mean?

  9. ATI says:

    Ted Berg!!!!!!!!!!

  10. therealsince86 says:

    I understand the Logic for Sheets and would go 2/20. I would love to see Sheets and Pettitte. My only fear with going with Sheets is the other guy HAS to be an innings guy. You can’t have Sheets go down and then end up with 3 5 inning pitchers in your rotation when Niese replaces him. Thus I would rather have Pettitte there than Ollie. Plus your money is only committed for 2 years instead of 4 for Lowe and most likely 4 for Perez.

    • Kherubconamor says:

      Sheets and OLLIE….BITE YOUR TONGUE Andy Petite…I’D NEVER, EVER, NEVER!! Be Able to root for that dirt bag. EVER!!!

      • Kherubconamor says:

        I never booed a Met in my whole life, Not even Mike Cameron or Shawn Green….but I would go to the stadium explicitly to boo him if the Mets signed him cause I wouldn’t be a Mets fan anymore…I’d just go to boo that BUM!!! Well…to be honest, I’d also go to get drunk….and Rowdy….AND FIGHT ANYONE WHO WASN’T BOOING HIM WITH ME!!!

        • alex242 says:

          W-O-W!!!! kheru relax!!!!

        • therealsince86 says:

          Then when Sheets gets injured and Perez and Maine pitch 5 innings like normal and the bullpen gets overused you can boo at the entire team. Nice.

          • Kherubconamor says:

            I don’t boo my team. I like talking smack against the other team though….Oh I let Connor Jackson and Pat Burrell have it pretty good last year….lol, Burrell was scratching himself, and I rather loudly called attention to it….then proceeded to declare that he had crabs…ragged on him about his weight….funny funny…

        • Wanny Backstra says:

          That’s idiotic to say the least. Besides, is your fake I.D. good enough to get you beer at the Stadium?

          If you don’t like the Yankees the best possible way to rub salt in their wounds would be to win the World Series with their hero on the mound.

          Long before you learned to type in all caps with your thumbless hands, the Yanks were winning championships with former Mets like Doc Gooden, David Cone and Daryl Strawberry (not to mention Jose Vizcaino going ballistic on the Mets in the 2000 Series) and it was pure, unadulterated torture for Mets fans to endure.

      • Wanny Backstra says:

        Offering Sheets the same type of deal as Lowe is ridiculous. Lowe is a 200 inning horse. Sheets is a brilliant pitcher capable of leading a staff but you can’t guarantee him so much money over so much time given his injury history.

        We just got over paying Pedro for nothing for 2 and a half years.

        Sheets has to agree to a short term deal other wise he is to much of a risk. Same with Wolf, if you ask me — maybe even moreso.

        • Kherubconamor says:

          You’re thinking entirely inside the box…

          • therealsince86 says:

            Offering Sheets 3-4 years would put you in a white box wearing a white coat.

          • Kherubconamor says:

            Granted I don’t have much clout here since I’m not a long tenured poster on this site, but anyone who knows me from Mets.com knows I’m always on the money…signing Sheets for that contract, and don’t forget a 4th year team option would be a coup. As usual, time will speak for me…and that’s all I have to say about that.

          • Wanny Backstra says:

            It can’t be a coup when no one else is offering that much, whether it works out or not.

            Was it a coup that the Yankees outbid themselves for Sabathia?

    • Willie Randolph says:

      Agreee !!!

      I dont know but i have a feeling that if we dont sign Lowe we’re trading for Erick Bedard.

      • alex242 says:

        ERICK BEDARD??

        Really willie?? wow, u seem to got a better scoop than ken rosenthal

        • Willie Randolph says:

          Write it down Alex ! He’s a lefty ,is signed and need a fresh start .

          • therealsince86 says:

            Sounds good in theory but who are you giving for him? Niese and Evans? Does that gain you anything?
            Maybe it’s better to see if you could get Washburn for Marlon Anderson?

          • Willie Randolph says:

            Bobby Parnell , Eddie Kunz ,Ike Davis or Reese Havens and Luis Castillo(because of Bedard’s big contract)

          • alex242 says:

            ok willie.. you sound too cocky, don’t forget that’s why u got fired!!!

          • Willie Randolph says:

            C’mon Alex !

            lol

  11. therealsince86 says:

    With Sheets I can’t see him wanting more than 2 years at this point. He knows he is not going to get top dollar in a longterm contract.
    It’s too risky for a team to sign him for 3 years and too costly for him.
    He could get 10 million this year and prove he is healthy and get a 3 year deal for 50 million or he could sign this year for 3/24. If your him you have to think it’s worth the risk.

    • Wanny Backstra says:

      TRS — I don’t understand why anyone would offer Randy Wolf a longer term deal than they would Sheets.

      I’m not advocating a long term deal for Sheets by any stretch. I’m just saying that Wolf does not seem to be a better health risk than Sheets and he certainly doesn’t come with an equal reward.

      Wolf has pitched more than 136 innings once since 2003… fewer innings that Sheets in that time period… and no where near the quality.

      • therealsince86 says:

        I think it’s about current health. Wolf is currently healthy while Sheets is not and not only has possible CURRENT elbow problems but shoulder as well.
        Besides Wolf most likely wants long term because it’s not like he is going to pitch so great this year in a 1 year deal that he would get a 4 year 60 million deal the next. He would get 8 million in a 1 year deal this year and if he does the same as last year, about the same next year. Thus 2/16 is a good deal for him and another team.

        Sheets is a different story. IF healthy Sheets for 1 year 10 million is a huge bargain. However, no team wants to sign him for multiple years because he very well could miss 1.5 years of the 2 year contract. From Sheets side, he could very well pitch lights out all year, stay healthy and get a 4/70 deal.

      • Willie Randolph says:

        We’ll get Wolf for 1 year, the Redding offer is just a bluff for Wolf !

        • Willie Randolph says:

          By the way i’ll like to have Wolf cause i hate when his brother is the home plate umpire ! lol

  12. therealsince86 says:

    Because of the market I think both Wolf and Redding will get 2 year deals on the cheap from someone. Wolf I could see the Cardinals, Redding I could see the Braves if neither signs with us.

  13. twofours44 says:

    has anyone offered anything to sheets? how about 2 /22 for a start? sheets *if healthy* is the best pitcher available. then i guess just wait out lowe/ollie/wolf/garland market.

  14. longislandmetsfan says:

    The “if healthy” part is just too sketchy, I think….One could make the argument, that not only is the healthy sheets the best pitcher available right now, but the best at the beginning on the offseason….If everyone was sure that it was the healthy sheets that was showing up, I’d certainly take him over, lowe, burnett, and maybe even cc, no? Am I alone in this opinion?

    • Willie Randolph says:

      Not alone IF you could sign Sheets for 5 yrs instead of the 7 that CC got !

      • longislandmetsfan says:

        understood, I didnt mean the length of contract, just overall saying if sheets was always healthy, I think I might prefer him over all of those guys including cc….he’s a top tier pitcher, “when healthy”

  15. stickguy says:

    If Wolf does check out healthty, and FWIR he was fine at the end of the year, then he would be a good option for 2 years max.

    I finally looked up sheets. From 2005-2007, he averaged about 20 starts and 125 innings. So he obviously missed time, but enver missed a season due to surgery, etc.

    I think he pitched 140, 109, 150 innings in those years before the 198 last year.

    So TRS is right. If they are both currently healthy, Sheets gets a bigger deal. But if not, Wolf is a safer play.

    Sheets will likely end up with a 1 year deal heavy on incentives if the med report is scaring teams away. That I say Omar jumps on.

    Given how much they paid Duques bunion last year, if Sheets ends up with a 1 year deal, 5 mill guaranteed + 6-7 inincentives for IP, you gotta take that risk.

  16. Chris Alvino says:

    If Sheets signs an incentive laden deal, he can make up to 15-18 million dollars next year, provided he stays healthy. Let’s be real here, he is that good.

    If he doesn’t stay healthy, then he gets a base salary of about 8 million.

    Honestly, I am shocked that he is still out there for the taking. Penny got what, 5 million from the Sox? Sheets is definitely better than Penny, so he can warrant a guaranteed 8-10 million for next year. With incentives, that would go up.

    Imagine Sheets throwing 30 starts for us next year and being healthy in the playoffs? Wow. And to think that is very possible and Omar has not bit yet. I think that once Lowe and Manny sign, we will see these other pitchers get their attention and see players like Abreu and Dunn get more attention as well.

  17. strawgooden says:

    Sheets and Perez is who they should be aiming for..forget about Lowe

    • GSS043 says:

      A couple more pitchers, an outfielder, a second basemen….All this money…. Can’t the METS just buy Cerrone a damn tie? You would never see Darryl Strawberry on TV in a button down shirt with an undershirt sticking out at the neck. He would BIG pimp it in a three piece. GO METS!!!!!