Ben Sheets News

Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX.

For all the talk about how the bad economy would keep teams from offering salary arbitration to their free agents, there were actually more offers made this year than there were last year.

Career steals leader Rickey Henderson heads 10 first-time candidates on this year's Hall of Fame ballot, joining holdovers Mark McGwire and Jim Rice -- eligible for the final time.

CC Sabathia, likely to command the largest contract among this year's free-agent pitchers, was offered salary arbitration Monday by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The A's are looking for a new hitting coach with Monday's announcement that Ty Van Burkleo was hired as the Seattle Mariners' new bench coach.

The Brewers will likely offer salary arbitration to CC Sabathia so they can receive compensation if he signs with another team.

What are the Brewers doing to improve the club this offseason? Things seem pretty quiet.

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin tried to re-establish contact Tuesday with the representatives for free agent pitcher CC Sabathia.

What if the Yankees can't land CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett or Derek Lowe? It seems that they all have some reason they don't want to pitch in New York.

THE BOSS DEPT .: Now that it's final, now that George M. Steinbrenner III is no longer the official Man Who Runs The Yankees, I had a thought: I wonder how much money this man has spent over the years in the ...

How bad was Eric Gagne last season in Milwaukee? So bad that even the loss of the guy who had replaced him as closer, Salomon Torres, was greeted with something resembling indifference by general manager Doug ...

It's nice to be remembered, especially when a Hall of Fame niche is the reward. Former major league pitcher Jeff Innis of Decatur will be inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame on Saturday, ...

As much as I like Ben Sheets, the Brewers need to focus on CC Sabathia. But if they could manage to keep both, Sheets should become the closer.

Depending on which rumor you believe, new Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is supposed to be bringing with him former Brewers pitchers CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets and Eric Gagne, as well his brother, Greg.

The New York Yankees aim to be more successful in the free-agent season than they were in the 2008 campaign and are targeting starting pitchers, manager Joe Girardi said on Thursday.

When Brewers closer Salomon Torres called it quits this week, opting to retire from active duty after one of the best seasons of his career, he dug yet another hole at the back of the Brewers' bullpen.

Roy Oswalt has lots of buddies and he's campaigning for the Astros to add Jake Peavy and/or Ben Sheets.

Not even general manager Doug Melvin, the man with the Brewers' master plan, knows exactly what to expect from the free-agency period that begins in earnest on Friday.

The Brewers don't want CC Sabathia going anywhere. GM Doug Melvin revealed that Milwaukee opened up the bidding for their ace from last season hours after he filed for free agency on the weekend.

I really worry about the Brewers' pitching next year. Have they put any thought into trading Prince Fielder for pitching during this offseason? -- Quinn L., West Bend, Wis.