One name to keep serious eye on this winter is free agent pitcher Ben Sheets. If anyone has forgotten, Sheets missed 2009 recovering from tendon surgery in his pitching forearm and yes that is not as serious as the feared Tommy John surgery. Sheets is such an interesting guy for teams to bring in because his power stuff screams ace every time  he takes the mound. The problem is, he doesn’t take the mound as much as other aces around the league. It’s unlikely he’ll find a big multi year deal this winter, but a 1 year incentive laced deal to show he’s healthy could be a teams gold mine this off season who can’t sign John Lackey.

The team I would look out for to make a run at Sheets is the Detroit Tigers. Detroit has emerged as a team not afraid to take some risks while opening the check book a bit. Rick Porcello came on in 2009 as a 20 year old and probably will be better in 2010 at 21 but I still can see Detroit limiting his innings a bit. Justin Verlander is a legit ace anchoring the staff and has everything a team wants in a shut down guy. Edwin Jackson had a fine 2009 and can definitely set in as the 3, but after those 3- Detroit has major questions. Jeremy Bonderman hasn’t been healthy in 2 long years and the wheels have completely come off the Dontrelle Willis train and that’s 2 big holes in the most important part of a team and that’s not even mentioning the competitiveness of the AL central. They don’t have the major league pitching prospects that can step in right away and be a difference maker so I can definitely see Detroit making a semi splash on the market for starting pitching.

Which is exactly why Ben Sheets would be a perfect guy for Detroit to go after. They’ll be able to offer him a year deal worth maybe 3 or 4 million with incentives for an extra couple million. They can offer him the chance to be on a winner. They can offer hm a pitchers park with a pretty decent offense and defense behind him. If your Ben Sheets, those are big factors on where you want to end up. You want a chance to show everyone that your back, and your better than ever. You want the chance to be able to contribute to a winning season. In Detroit, that can happen so if I’m Dave Dombrowski- Ben Sheets can put you over the top.