Ben Sheets signs with Braves

Ben Sheets came to Thursday's Braves game against the Diamondbacks as a fan. He was in town with his 9-year-old son's baseball team, which had played a tournament in a suburb of Atlanta earlier in the week.

Before he took the team to Turner Field, however, Sheets threw a five-inning simulated game at Georgia Tech. Five major league teams had scouts in attendance, including the Braves, whose contingent included general manager Frank Wren, assistant general manager Bruce Manno and director of professional scouting John Coppolella.

Sheets had been impressive on the mound, and the Braves were very interested in signing him. So Sheets spent a few innings with his agent in Wren's suite and they began negotiating. The two sides happily agreed to terms Saturday night and, after a physical in Atlanta on Sunday morning, Sheets signed a Minor League contract with the Atlanta Braves.

Sheets has not pitched since the 2010 season and has missed two of the last three years due to arm injuries. But he will be returning to the mound Wednesday at Double-A Mississippi, where he is scheduled to throw for five innings and 75 pitches. After another start for Mississippi, general manager,Wren said that the Braves will reevaluate Sheets' progress. However, they expect him to be pitching in Atlanta quite soon.


Sheets has not, however, pitched a full season since 2008. That year, he was named to be on the National League All-Star team and went 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA for the Brewers. But since then, Sheets has twice injured his right elbow and has undergone Tommy John surgery. In between the two injuries, Sheets pitched for 119 1/3 innings for the Athletics in 2010. He went 4-9 with an ERA of 4.53.

Wren said Sheets' injuries does not concern the Braves. He also noted that Sheets' last surgery was 22 months ago, which has given him plenty of time to be able to recover.