Yankeeist favorite Ben Sheets is off to a decent start with Oakland, picking up his first win of the season last night on the strength of six scoreless innings. Sheets has a 2.65 ERA (although an unsightly 5.71 xFIP) over three starts.
It’s obviously too early to say if Sheets will regain his once-dominating form, but this could turn out to be the sleeper signing of the offseason. Sheets’ $10 million price tag pretty clearly scared most teams off, although considering that we’re paying Home Run Javy $11.5 million — and don’t get me wrong, unlike the rest of the ridiculous Yankee fanbase, I am in no way writing Vazquez off after a mere two starts — one can’t help but wonder whether Sheets might’ve been worth the gamble.
If nothing else, Sheets could be an interesting option if Andy Pettitte retires and the Yanks opt not to re-sign Vazquez after the season.
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5 Responses to An option for the 2011 rotation?
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TIQ IQ
Yeah, but you said it yourself with the xFIP for Sheets. It's 5.71. What's Vazquez's? 4.75. And that's against the Rays and Angels, while Sheets has pitched against the Orioles, Angels and Mariners.
Solid points; and I'm certainly not upset that we have Vazquez. I think he'll do just fine and seems likely to end up having a better year than Sheets.
Just pondering what might have been. And, I suppose, what could still be at some point.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/5439
A number of these guys went on to have good seasons and were flat out terrible in their first couple of starts
I haven't seen Sheets yet this year; how is his stuff/velocity?
I still think Javy is going to have a great year for the Yankees. I missed his start at home, but I really liked what I saw from him in Tampa during the first few innings. when he puts it together, ARod and Tex start hitting… wow. This team could win 105 games… i know i'm getting way ahead of myself, but this team is just blowing me away with their ability to win HOW they're winning right now – not on the back of ARod and Tex's offense.
~jamie
I haven't seen him pitch yet myself — given that ugly xFIP, I imagine he's still finding his way, and he could end up bombing, but I'll be rooting for him.
I've always been a big Sheets fan, and as long as he remains a viable-to-potentially-dominating starting pitcher will hope that he ends up on the Yankees.