Brewers Show Sheets the Money

All-Star pitcher Ben Sheets signed a $38.5-million, four-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday, the richest deal in club history.

Sheets had signed a one-year, $6-million contract in February to avoid salary arbitration but left open the option of a longer pact.

Until Friday, the biggest Brewer deal was a $23-million, three-year contract extension outfielder Geoff Jenkins signed last year, the team said.

Sheets underwent back surgery in the off-season, and General Manager Doug Melvin wanted to see for himself how the right-hander performed in spring training before opening talks on a bigger deal.

Sheets was 12-14 with a 2.70 earned-run average last season, and his 264 strikeouts were the most among National League right-handers. Sheets, who has a 46-54 career record with a 3.92 ERA and 696 strikeouts, was an All-Star in 2001 and again last season.

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Outfielder Magglio Ordonez, who signed a five-year, $75-million contract with the Detroit Tigers in February, will undergo hernia surgery and be sidelined from four to six weeks.

Manager Alan Trammell had said on Thursday he did not think Ordonez would need to go on the disabled list. But General Manager Dave Dombrowski said Friday he was informed by doctors that they had discovered the hernia.

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The Texas Rangers activated right-hander Carlos Almanzar from the bereavement list. He had traveled home to Santiago, Dominican Republic, after his mother’s death the weekend before the season began and found out upon his arrival that a brother had also died.

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Baltimore bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks underwent a series of medical tests in a St. Petersburg, Fla., hospital after being admitted late Thursday night after the Orioles’ game against Tampa Bay.

Hendricks, 64, complained of dizziness and numbness in his left side before checking into the hospital for observation.