Ben Sheets: Took one for the team or was looking out for himself?

So it turns out Ben Sheets had a small tear in a muscle near his elbow. He knew that, but pitched anyway and a new MRI reveals the tear got bigger.

Before we knew that, I wasn't too keen on Ben pitching. It just seemed forced and unneccessary. When Dale Sveum talked about it, he said he talked to Ben and Sheets said give me the ball. That raised a flag for me. Sheets is in his contract year and was about to end the season without having contributed to his team's final playoff push. That doesn't reflect well on a pitcher who's already known as injury-prone.

It's my personal opinion that he pushed it, knowing that he had to try and take the field to still be able to try and command the type of contract he was hoping to get heading into this season. What team's going to offer a contract of any serious money or time period to a guy who rode the pine in the most important 3 weeks his team had in 26 years.

A guy in my office thinks Sheets last start was a selfless act. I don't think I agree. Not only do I think that there's no such thing from a guy in the last week of his contract year, but I think that as far as acts for the greater good of the team go, pitching at less than 100% isn't exactly what we're hoping for. I guess it's not the situation I'd like our Ace to put us in, you know?

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Unrelated, but a friend just informed me Salomon Torres had an 8+ ERA in September.
Great.