"Under The Gun" takes a look at one player from each team who will bear all the pressure for the upcoming '08 season.Last season, Ben Sheets made 24 starts. That means because of his various injuries, he missed somewhere between eight and ten starts for a team that missed the playoffs by two games. You can quibble with my math if you like, but I feel like it's not a stretch to say that the Brewers would've won two or three more games in 2007 with ten starts from Ben Sheets.
Injuries have, in fact, been the calling card of Sheets' career. Since the start of the 2005 season, he's got an above average ERA, a winning record, a ton of strikeouts, and great peripheral numbers. He's also not thrown more than 157 innings in any of those three seasons, tossing 156 and 2/3, 106, and 141 and 1/3. That's just not enough innings from an ace in the thick of a playoff race, which is what the Brewers expect to be in this year.
Because of his injuries, people tend to forget just how talented Sheets really is. If not for Jake Peavy and Johan Santana, Sheets would be a Cy Young contender this year based on talent alone. It seems like he's been in the league forever, but he's only going to be 29 in 2008, which isn't old at all. If he can make 30-some starts and break the 200 inning barrier, he's going to have a very good season and the Brewers are going to be in the thick of things. If he can't do that, well, the Brewers better hope Yovani Gallardo really steps up this year.
