it looks like we got Heilman in a deal for Scott Maine and Ryne White.

Relief? Starter? So many questions.

3.88 ERA, 66 hits in 72 Inn. with 63 strikouts. But also 31 walks :P

Dbacks are better off saving the money and using Scott Maine

My girlfriend is a Mets fan.

We started dating 2 seasons ago. Her TV/DVD setup is weird, and every now and then I’ll have difficulty with it. Sometimes just the TV turns on, other times just the cable box will come on.

You probably are wondering what the hell this has to do with anything. Well, every time I screw up this seemingly routine task of turning on the television, she calls me the “Aaron Heilman of remotes.”

Needless to say, given his performance with the Mets in ‘08 and Cubs this year, I’m not thrilled with this trade.

gave him a tryout at SP over spring training. It’s not like the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation are engraved in stone as of yet.

knows how to allow inherited runners to score.

Heilman, the erstwhile Mets reliever who spent a few days as Mariners property this offseason, has gone on the record as saying that he would like to start. However, his qualifications for such a role are not immediately apparent. From 2005-2007, the Notre Dame product had a good deal of success in Queens, though his FIP did rise each season (2.97 in ‘05, 3.28 in ‘06, 3.86 in ‘07). As a fastball/changeup reliever, Heilman was an asset. In 2008, however, Heilman began messing around with a slider, perhaps in an attempt to show that he had the three-pitch mix to go out there every fifth day.

While it’s hard to say for sure whether Heilman’s experimentation led to his struggles, his performance did head south. He struck out nearly nine-and-a half batters per nine innings, but Heilman’s walk rate soared (5.45 BB/9), he gave up a few more flyballs (his GB% fell about five percent to 40.8%) and he surrendered 1.18 HR/9. The end result was a mild 4.91 FIP. The Cubs essentially swapped both Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno to acquire Heilman’s services. That’s quite the price to pay for a good, not great reliever or a kinda-sorta-rotation candidate.

No ‘pure’ reliever has pitched more innings than Heilman over the past four seasons – only two guys have average more than 80 IP per year. Heilman and… Jon Rauch.

Wonder if Heilman has tattoos?

But doesn’t Haren/Webb/Scherzer/Heilman/Buckner sound ok as a rotation? Given how Scherzer developed and Buckner pitched down the stretch I’d be ok with it.

Likes the move: “It’s a low-risk move with a chance at paying off and it leaves the D-backs with more money to spend on that No. 4 starter and maybe on another reliever.”

Left a good impression. No top prospects were dealt, we had left-handed bullpen depth with guys like Sclereth, Zavada, Septimo, etc., tons of new first basemen, and Heilman is cost-efficient.

Nothing fancy, but getting a MLB part for two low ceiling, nowhere to go 23/24 year old minor league players has got to be regarded as a good move.

Heilman is a below average middle reliever, and you can literally find those anywhere and pay them the minimum salary. Even if you think the prospects are worth nothing, you’re paying $2 million for something you can get for free (well, for the cost of a roster spot). His projection (all I got so far is Bill James) is no better than Gutierrez or Boyer.

The Cubs were going to non-tender him rather than pay the $2M.

For $2M or thereabouts, you can get a GOOD reliever. Last year, Juan Cruz signed for $3M, Joe Beimel signed for $2M, Arthur Rhodes for $2M.

If Heilman finds his from for ‘05 and ’06, or if he’s a moderately effective 5th starter, he’ll be worth it. But we’re just as likely to have another Schoeneweis on our hands.

where we desperately needed a solid, unspectacular, inning-eating reliever. Kind of like a wet blanket with a 4ish ERA we could through over the other team and protect a large lead through the 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

This:

Heilman has pitched the most innings of any reliever in the past four years, with solid results.

makes me thing that Heilman could fill that role nicely, even if he doesn’t show any great improvement. This year, maybe “5 runs up in the 8th inning” won’t seem like such a precarious position.

It’s hard to say that this aquisition doesn’t dissappoint me. A lot of posters have put up some numbers for Heilman that makes it look like he could be productive for us, and it’s good to have that hope right now.

But is this is kind of move you were hoping for when the FO said they were changing gears and going to spend money to make the bullpen a strength this season?

There are certainly moves yet to be made, but for me Heilman represents a half-assed attempt to address one of the team’s weak spots. It could work, but he’s not going to turn the pen into an area of stregth all by himself, and now we have 2M and two prospects less to work with.

they are in someone else’s system now, no use to us.