According to Matthew Cerrone, Texas is among a handful of teams that have been scouting Ben Sheets lately. Sheets, who signed a one year deal with Oakland this past offseason after not pitching at all in 2009, has gone 3-8 with a 4.89 ERA, 1.44 WHIP in 106.2 innings while walking 40 and striking out 78. He’s also already given up 17 home runs on the year.
↵As Cerrone noted thanks to MLBtraderumors.com, it does not look like Sheets is going to be either a Type A or Type B free agent. Without compensation for Sheets this offseason, Billy Beane and the A’s could be apt to deal him for lesser prospects than they normally would.
↵I’m not terribly wild on the idea of acquiring Sheets. Away from the safe confines of the Oakland Colosseum, Sheets has posted a 6.66 ERA in 51.1 innings with 12 of his 17 home runs allowed coming on the road as well. As we’ve seen with Bengie Molina, the Rangers are willing to overspend to get a player they want. I’d much rather them put together a package to acquire Lee rather than see them put any investment into Sheets. He simply isn’t going to upgrade what the Rangers have.