"Finally, an answer to one of this winter's most puzzling questions: Why is the National League's All-Star Game starting pitcher still looking for a job?

The answer is that free agent right-hander Ben Sheets may need surgery to repair the torn flexor tendon in his elbow, and his former employers may be asked to pick up the tab. Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said on Thursday that the team has been in discussions this week with Sheets' agent and officials from Major League Baseball about who would pay for the procedure.

"We're working our way through all of the details and we don't know the answer yet," Ash said. "Major League Baseball has regulations related to workers comp and there are procedures and protocols that have to be respected. We're working our way through those so I can't give you much insight other than that."

The Texas Rangers and Sheets reached an agreement on a two-year contract late last week and only a physical stood in the way of the deal being completed. But everything changed once it was determined that Sheets had a torn flexor tendon that might require surgery.

The Rangers could still pursue Sheets with a deal that would allow him to do his rehabilitation work with them in hopes that he would eventually pitch at a high level again. But that doesn't appear to be the case.

"We've maintained contact but I'm not optimistic at this point," general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday morning.

Daniels declined to discuss Sheets' physical and health situations.

Sheets is a free agent who declined an arbitration offer from Milwaukee on Dec. 8, but he was injured while a Brewers employee. He worked much of the second half of the 2008 season with elbow pain and was left off Milwaukee's postseason roster, then revealed to reporters that he had torn the flexor tendon near his right elbow.

At the time, according to Ash, the medical prognosis was that, "with rest and exercise and rehab, he should be fine."

Asked if there was any talk of surgery at that time, Ash replied simply, "None." "