A's Rotation + Ben Sheets = Potential Elite Rotation Or Walking Wounded

Marco Scutaro. Adrian Beltre. Jamey Carroll. Aroldis Chapman. These are the known names of players the A's have thrown lots of money at this offseason, but consistently came away empty handed. That's why I didn't get excited last night when I read last night that the A's were a "leading candidate" in pursuit of Ben Sheets. No way would Sheets sign with the A's.

That's why I had to do a double-take this morning when I read that Sheets did indeed ink on the dotted line with the A's. Then, I performed another double-take when I saw for how much. $10 Million plus incentives? I supposed the bidding war for Sheets would go high, but that just seems like an awful lot of money for someone who completely missed last season with elbow surgery.

So now we play the waiting game to see if the A's rotation becomes an elite pitching staff that hitter fear to see, or if they become the walking wounded. Frankly, this is a waiting game I'm actually excited about.

The walking wounded is a term I've read in A's articles over the last few years when describing the A's propensity as a team to have players either on the DL or playing hurt. I love the term so much, I adopted "The Walking Wounded" as the name of a band I've been playing with.

If healthy the A's rotation will certainly be imposing... that's a BIG if though. Sheets missed all of last year with elbow surgery. Justin Duchscherer also missed all of last season battling back and shoulder injuries not to mention a bout with clinical depression. After the 2009 trading deadline, Braden didn't pitch again because of a bizarre rash and infection. Josh Outman is recovering from Tommy John Surgery and will be back around the All-Star break in 2010.

Brett Anderson is now the only lock for a 2010 rotation spot with a 100 percent clean bill of health. One of Vince Mazzaro/Gio Gonzalez/Trevor Cahill will break Spring Training on the Major League roster thanks to the pickup of Sheets.

Perhaps now A's fans know not to get excited about big ifs. It has let us down so much on the last couple years when hoping for healthy productive recoveries from Chavez, Crosby, and Giambi amongst others.

But IF Sheets comes back strong, IF Duchsherer returns to his all-star form, IF Braden's recovered from his bizarre injuries, IF Outman continues to impress like he did pre-injury, IF Anderson proves his 2009 season was no fluke and continues to grow, and IF Cahill, Gonzalez and Mazzarro pick up the slack, the 2010 pitching staff could be downright scary. That's a lot of ifs, but IF only a few of those pan out, the A's should strike gold.

Let's hope so, I'd like to keep the Walking Wounded shows in 2010 on stage with my band and not on the pitcher's mound in Oakland.