Braves sign Ben Sheets to minor league contract

By Drew SilvaJul 1, 2012, 1:28 PM EDT
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From FOX Sports.com’s Ken Rosenthal comes word that the Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran right-hander Ben Sheets.

Sheets hasn’t appeared in a major league game since July 9, 2010, when he was a member of the A’s. And he underwent Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery a little under two years ago.

But the risk is quite low on a non-guaranteed deal.

Sheets owns a 3.79 career ERA and 1.22 career WHIP. He’s a four-time All-Star and earned National League Cy Young Award votes in 2004 after posting a sparkling 2.70 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 264/32 K/BB ratio across 237 regular-season innings with the Brewers.

The 33-year-old will head to Double-A Mississippi on Wednesday to begin pitching in live games.

Video: Starling Marte refuses to take first base after being hit by pitch

Tim Warner/Getty Images
By Bill BaerJul 16, 2019, 9:31 PM EDT
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Pirates outfielder Starling Marte was hit on the hand by a Jack Flaherty pitch in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Cardinals. Rather than take first base, Marte — who came to the plate with a runner on first base — insisted to home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman that the ball hit the knob of the bat, not his hand. Marte was allowed to continue his at-bat, though manager Clint Hurdle came out to discuss the ruling with Dreckman. Marte eventually grounded into a fielder’s choice. He then got caught attempting to steal second base and the Pirates scored zero runs in the inning.

According to Baseball Prospectus, a team that has runners on first and second with no outs is expected to score 1.55 runs. Having a runner on first base with one out yields 0.56 expected runs. Marte essentially cost his team a run by rejecting first base. Oops.