According to Joel Sherman’s Twitter, the Mets will meet with Ben Sheets’ agent at some point during the Winter Meetings.
Good.
Sheets could be a great pickup for the Mets. He’s always a huge injury risk — he’s coming off flexor tendon surgery and hasn’t pitched since 2008, plus was injury prone before that — but he’s also always good.
I have no idea what Sheets is looking for in a contract, and it sounds like no one does. He’s certain to have a ton of suitors, but likely the team that lands him will be one that offers him some intriguing combination of guaranteed cash and performance incentives.
The Mets probably should be that team. If he’s healthy, Sheets will better than everyone in the Mets’ rotation besides Johan Santana.
For what it’s worth, in 2004, Andy Pettitte endured the same surgery that made Sheets miss all of last year. Since 2005, Pettitte has average 210 innings a season.
Of course, Pettitte was a lot healthier than Sheets before he had the surgery, so it’s not a fair comparison. I only mean to say that it’s reasonable to expect Sheets to return to full health, or at least as close to full health as he can ever be.
Plus, Sheets represents a reasonable opportunity for the Mets to leverage the perception of their home park to their advantage. If, as has been reported, sluggers are shying away from Citi Field because of its dimensions, shouldn’t pitchers be more eager to sign on with the Mets?
And then wouldn’t it make sense for Sheets, who will likely be pitching for his next contract in 2010, to throw half of his games in Queens?
Again, it’s all about the cost. If some team is willing to give him two guaranteed years and $20 million, the Mets should bow out gracefully. If Sheets is presented with a slew of similar, incentive-laden one-year contracts, though, the Mets should do their best to make sure theirs is the most favorable.
Tedquarters 
How much cash would we need to guarantee? $5M? with another 5 in incentives? I’d make that deal.
The dude has not pitched at all in 2 years. How can he expect guaranteed money? An invite to ST and maybe then talk about a 1 year incentive laden deal if he makes the team is as far as I would go. If the dude can pitch, pay him once he proves it. But to guarantee any money to a player this injury prone, coming off such a long layoff is luducrous. If other teams want to do that, I say let them.
You’re not buying certainty – you can’t buy certainty – you’re buying a really big upside.
I am a big Sheets fan. I bet he costs quite a bit but he is the high risk guy with the legit potential for high reward. The others are pretty much what you see is what you get…meaning Wolf, Marquis etc. Sheets has legit number 1 starter stuff. If, and it’s a big if, and therefor a big gamble, he stays healthy, he and Johan would be a dominant 1-2 combo.
Hey Ted,
Sheets would be a good pickup for any team on a 1 year incentive-laden deal. The problem is, he can’t be relied on to be a big piece of your rotation. The Mets, in my opinion, should be doing all they can and concentrating all their resources at this point to get a big piece to add to the rotation.
*and relying on Sheets to fill that role is a mistake.