A couple nice nuggets to confirm what we already suspect regarding a couple big fish on the 2009 Starting Pitcher Free Agents list.
As MLBTR covered here, this should be Ben Sheets’ last year with the Brewers. Further affirming the inevitable, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says,
If the 29-year-old right-hander finally has a healthy season and puts up impressive numbers, the Brewers would be hard-pressed to meet his asking price on what has been a runaway pitching market in recent years. And, should Sheets break down again and turns his four-year, $38.5 million contract into a complete boondoggle, the Brewers would be taken to task for giving him another chance.
And news on an even bigger fish, Patrick McManamon of the Ohio Beacon Journal brings us a quote from Indians GM Mark Shapiro that could lead one to believe that C.C. Sabathia will be voted out of the Tribe:
”We’re forced to confront decisions every year,” Shapiro said. ”We don’t lose much next year. We lose one core player next year . . . maybe not. But then the two years that follow we lose almost no one — and none of our core players. ’The biggest challenge that we’ve got over the next four years, the three years that follow this one, is how we handle losing C.C., if we lose him.”
Tim recently put together an excellent breakdown of Sabathia-suitors here.
By Nat Boyle
