No place to put 'em: Sheets, Varitek should accept arbitration

"He'd be nuts not to (accept arbitration)," one NL executive said.

The Brewers, who already stand to lose CC Sabathia, would be happy to see Sheets return.

In the past, not many free agents have accepted arbitration, and few that did accept were big-name players. Of the 17 players offered last year, only Andy Pettitte, Michael Barrett and Mark Loretta accepted. In 2006, Tony Graffanino and Todd Walker were the only two to accept, out of 25 who were offered.

A few more things to note about Monday's offers:

•  Pitching still has value, even in a bad market. Of the 15 Type A players who received offers Monday, nine were pitchers. The only Type A position players who were offered arbitration were Varitek, Orlando Hudson, Orlando Cabrera, Mark Teixeira, Raul Ibanez and Manny Ramirez.

•  Darren Oliver could be the player most hurt by getting offered arbitration. Oliver had a nice year for the Angels (left-handers hit .229 against him), but it's hard to see any team being willing to give up a high draft pick to sign a 38-year-old middle reliever.

•  Kerry Wood would have preferred to stay with the Cubs, but in some ways they may have done him a favor by not offering him arbitration. While signing Francisco Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes will cost a team a draft choice, signing Wood won't. Teams won't see Wood as comparable to K-Rod, but they could consider him comparable to Fuentes.

•  Teams in the market for a free-agent outfielder had to be happy, since Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell were all among the group not offered arbitration. The only outfielders who were offered were Ramirez and Ibanez, and it's doubtful that any team interested in either of them will be scared away by the cost of a draft pick.

•  Some people have suggested that Mark Grudzielanek would be smart to accept arbitration from the Royals, but Grudzielanek told Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that he plans to decline the offer, in hopes of signing with a team that has a better chance to make the postseason.

•  The two decisions that did seem to be affected by the economy were those involving Abreu and Dunn. The Yankees never seemed very interested in keeping Abreu, but until recently they felt sure enough that he'd get a multiyear deal elsewhere that they expected to offer him arbitration. The Diamondbacks traded for Dunn with the idea that they'd get two draft picks when he left, but with the market so slow to develop, they weren't willing to risk the $15 million he might have received through arbitration.