Hat tip to Al, because I never check ESPN in the offseason: Jerry Crasnick writes about Ben Sheets and the Brewers in general. It's nice to see a big ol' picture of Benny on the main page, isn't it? The best part of the article is a warm & fuzzy quote from Doug Melvin:
"Ben looks loosey-goosey, and the ball is coming out of his hand real good," Melvin said. "You can tell his thermal gauge by the way he is in the clubhouse. He's always joking around, but he didn't do it last year because the injuries wouldn't allow him to contribute. He was hurt, and he probably felt guilty as hell."
Doug would never lie to us, right? Crasnick also mentions that Sheets is sporting a new and improved changeup:
Sheets professed to throw a changeup for years, but the consensus is that the pitch had a little too much zip to complement his mid-90s fastball and power curve. Now he's picked up some tips from reliever Matt Wise, and he threw three nice changes in a row in an intrasquad game this week.
Interesting, or it would be, had Adam McCalvy not refuted it:
[Sheets] downplayed a report that appeared earlier in the day saying he would rely more on the changeup this season.
Ah, well. He's pretty good as it is, I'd say.
"I ain't going to throw it any more than I did last year," Sheets said. "I may mix it in when I need it."