New York Yankees Are Lucky They Went with Andy Pettitte

It’s a good thing the Yankees came to an agreement with Andy Pettitte because pitcher Ben Sheets is going to undergo elbow surgery and won’t be ready to pitch until July or August according to SI.com.

Jon Heyman reported that because of lack of interest from teams around the league is what caused Sheets to reconsider surgery. He has been trying to rehab his elbow since he suffered the injury late last season.

Sheets has received interest at some level by quite a few teams this offseason, but each team ultimately backed away fearing that his elbow was just not right.

Sheets came closest to signing a deal with the Texas Rangers last week. The two sides apparently had reached tentative agreement on a two-year deal, but it fell apart when it came to Sheets’ physical. After that, he figured he had nothing left to lose by getting his torn flexor tendon near his right elbow repaired.

Sheets was hurt as a free agent because of his type-A status this off-season. Teams didn’t want to risk losing a draft pick for a pitcher who might not pitch. The Yankees might have had some interest because they would have only risked losing a forth round pick, but they didn’t want to go as far as two-years on any contract with Sheets. That was a deal breaker for the pitcher.

It’s a good thing the Yankees didn’t take a chance and go on a one-year deal. If they had it would have forced them to use one of the young pitchers before they planned and only created a logjam late in the season. They likely wouldn’t need him in 2010 at that point and would have signed him for nothing.

This is probably the best for Sheets. It’s only too bad he didn’t elect to have the surgery earlier this past fall. Now it’s likely he will wait to sign with a team until after the first week in June, after the draft.

By waiting until after the draft teams won’t have to surrender a pick to get him and they probably be more willing to take a chance on him.

At that point his agents will probably look to sign a Jon Lieber type deal. A team would take out a two-year deal where he would have a team to rehab with this season and would basically be signing a contract for the 2010 season.