Matthew Cerrone

Buzz: Rays and Mets talk Aaron Heilman
By Matthew Cerrone - Nov 5, 2008 10:55 am

According to the Daily News, the Rockies, Cardinals, Cubs and D’Backs have interest in Aaron Heilman - as do the Rays, according to Ken Davidoff, in a post to his blog for Newsday.

The Rockies and D’Backs, among other teams, still believe that Heilman can be starting pitcher, wrote Jon Heyman at SI.com yesterday.

In a report today for the New York Post, Joel Sherman agrees that the Rays have interest in Heilman, however, ‘not to the extent it had in the past…thus, the Mets would have to surrender more to complete a deal.’

According to Sherman, while the Rays do not think the Mets have the talent to acquire a player like Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza, Jamie Shields or David Price, the two teams have been in talks regarding Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson.

In 32 starts for the Rays this season, the 25–year-old Jackson was 14–11 with a 4.42 ERA in 183 innings pitched, during which opponents hit .281 while striking out 108 times.

Meanwhile, also in 32 starts, Sonnestan, 25, was 13–9 with a 4.38 ERA, in 193 innings, during which opponents hit .277.

By the way, Sherman also writes about the future of Bobby Valentine, A.J. Burnett, Willie Randolph and others.

88 Responses to “Buzz: Rays and Mets talk Aaron Heilman”

  1. Gina says:

    I llike Sonnastine, but I’m pretty certain Jackson would be the second coming of Perez, except with fewer K’s, more hits and walks, and without the ridiculous lefty/righty split Perez has, which helped him a lot in our division.

    • Prismo says:

      Certainly not more walks! Ollie gave up 28 more walks last year than Jackson in 2 more starts.

      • Gina says:

        Jackson pitched 10 fewer innings. But you’re right over the same inning span he still gives up like 19 less walks, but he also gives up a lot more hits, his WHIP was still .11 points higher than Perez’s despite walking a lot fewer batters.

        • HOFMets57 says:

          Still, I’d rather have Edwin Jackson (94 mph) than Sonnastine (88 mph). Sonnastine seems like another Trachsel or Bannister retread…

        • Gina says:

          You’d rather have the worse pitcher of the two because of velocity?

        • therealsince86 says:

          It’s like wanting Ryan Howard over Albert Pujols.

        • wrightstuff08 says:

          i agree with HOFmets57, Jackson has more upside and much better stuff. If he can get a little better control, he would dominate. Didnt anybody see Jackson pitch against the Sox in the playoffs in relief?? I like Sonnanstine but he probably has already hit his ceiling. He walks less people than Jackson but his control has to be pinpoint or he gets beat around. Did anybody see him pitch in the playoffs?? He looked so-so to me and flirted with danger all of the time.

        • HOFMets57 says:

          Correct.

          To answer your question, Gina. Yes, simply because of velocity. They are the same age but Edwin has an out where Sonnanstine does not: velocity/strike out. If he can continue and develop his secondary pitches, he projects to be a 2-3 starter. Sonnanstine will never be higher than a 4…

    • MetLifer says:

      How is he the second coming of Perez when you just pointed out all the differences?

      They are more like the second coming of Zambrano…. Victor.. but younger!

    • just-mlb says:

      to be honest…id rather spend the extra 8 million a year and extra 3 years on CC than on Ollie…I loved Ollie and I think he is a gamer…BUT, a HEALTHY rotation of CC..Johan…Pelfrey…Maine…and a 5th starter would be pretty great…

      If we max out on the bullpen, I think we have enough to cover our deficiencies in other areas …( LF/2B)

      Omar should be going after

      Cruz/Biemel/Fuentes/K-Rod

      if we have that plus smith feliciano parnell..maybe stokes or ayala…( sorry but i think they have to cut ties with aaron and maybe even dirty )

      i think I would like our chances

  2. stilltheEWM says:

    haha.. we don’t have the talent to acquire a Scott Kazmir.. that’s right we cut Victor Zambrano…

  3. CitizenSnips says:

    Let’s sign Zambrano and try a reverse trade ;)

    Btw the second time you spelled Sonnanstine was horrible.

  4. FlightFromHouston says:

    Sonnanstine is a gamer. I’m all for picking him up.

  5. Jaded1983 says:

    I think its safe to say the jury is sitll out on those two. They are both only 25 dont forget. Still a lot of upside there.

  6. bobabouy01 says:

    Heilman & a bag of BP balls for ……..ANYTHING !!!

    • mark4212 says:

      I agree with bobabouy. If you can move heilman and a very low level prospect for him sure.

      He’d fill in nicely for a 5th or 4th starter. I still say they sign Lowe, maybe go after Sabbathia (pipe Dream). I like the consistency that Lowe gives you even if it won’t be for the live of the contract he gets. You know he is a gamer and will keep it close. The Mets do need to fill 2 SP roles. I don’t want to be relying on Neise, even though he looked like he can hang in the bigs last season. Having him as a long man/ 6th starter is where he should be.

      Also i the bullpen i would love to clean house, No Heilman, Feliciano and Show. I’ll keep Sanchez and Stokes, but they have to battle for spots… nothing is given and they can be demoted to AAA. I’d hold onto Smith as well, but if he can’t get lefties out I want him gone also. Lefty Right matchup’s should only be used in the Playoffs. No more 10 pitch to face one batter innings, using 3 pitchers in that inning. PLEASE!

  7. its hard to be a met fan says:

    folks when analyzing AL pitchers you have to recognize the fact that they face a DH rather than a pitcher….in 30 starts that’s about 120 ABs that will now be a NL pitcher….

  8. the_other_matt says:

    Heilman & castillo for Kazmir and Price. That’s fair, no?

  9. Andrew says:

    Sonnanstine and Jackson are scrubs. I’d take Garza. Maybe the Rays want Luis Castillo? ;)

  10. jaydh says:

    This would be a great move. Both Jackson and Sonnanstine have showed good promise. If all it would cost is heilman+ a prospect, get it done. Then, we would need only 1 starter, plus this would free up money to improve other areas of the team.

  11. Protes says:

    If we deal Heilman, he will do well next year. Guaranteed.

    • Gina says:

      Thats the problem with always selling low. We should have delt him a year or so ago when teams still valued him as a starter and we had no intentions of using him as such, we likely would have gotten a package at least equal to the value of the role he played on the team. Now we’re stuck between a rock in a hard place, we sell now while he still has a little value left and he might bounce back, or we could try and wait and hope he improves his value and he might end up destroying what little value he has left.

    • mark4212 says:

      So what. If we keep him and he stinks another year for us, it won’t help his value at all. he was horrible last year, asked to be dealt someplace new, so lets give him his opportunity. he had 2 great years for us, was pitching in a role he didn’t want. Lets accomodate him and possibly get a 26 year old starter who won 13 games. Improved dramatically in his second year, and won 2 games in the postseason….

      You can keep santana. We have the good one.

      • mark4212 says:

        Not santana…. Jackson.. Sonnastein is the better one.

        Sorry about that!

      • ravi3 says:

        I did a big post regarding Heilman, with the conclusion that Heilman’s knee injury prevented him from throwing an effective changeup, allowing hitters to sit on his fastball. While this was very tough for righties, as Aaron’s FB bores in on the RH batters, it is easier for lefties, as Heilman must exhibit excellent control, otherwise the pitch creeps toward the middle of the plate, or outside the zone vs. lefties. This is why lefties hit him uncharacteristically hard, and what led to Heilman’s lost season (If you take a look at the splits, you’ll see that his performance vs. righties was in line with career norms, while lefties hammered him).

        Should his knee be healthy next year (a big deal, as he needs to be able drive off it in order to locate his pitches), look for a return to form. Book it.

  12. therealsince86 says:

    Eh Heilman and Evans for Sonnanstine works for me. The go sign Garland for the other spot. At that point we would be gaining picks for Perez. It would also still give us around 18-20 million to spend on other holes.

    • stilltheEWM says:

      And one proven lefty in the rotation..

      I’d much rather prefer 2…

      • jaydh says:

        overrated, just give me someone who can pitch.

      • therealsince86 says:

        Who on the market besides CC and Perez are quality LHP? Niese can take that spot eventually if he progresses.

        • stilltheEWM says:

          I’m just saying we’ll miss throwing 2 quality lefties against the Phils like we were able too this year.. prettyy much every series they had to see Ollie or Johan…

          Ollie’s ERA against the phillies last year… it’s 0.35

          That’s right.. ZERO POINT THREE FIVE

          That is going to be missed if we let Ollie go

        • jaydh says:

          what was ollie vs the rest of the league? how many games against the phils vs the rest of the league? you don’t build your rotation based on 1 team.

        • stilltheEWM says:

          When you have to beat them to win the division? They get a little more weight…

        • Gina says:

          We won the head to head match up against the Phillies this year, and exactly what good did it do us? I don’t care how he pitches against the Phillies when he stinks it up against everyone else.

        • therealsince86 says:

          What about his
          10.38 vs Cubs
          7.50 vs Dodgers
          6.55 vs Brewers
          10.80 vs Pirates
          8.62 vs Nationals
          162.00 (not a misprint) vs the Giants
          We don’t play just the Phillies.

        • stilltheEWM says:

          4.22 isn’t stinking it up against everyone else… that’s a lower ERA then Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson who are being discussed this AM.. as well as John Garland whose ERA is a tick less then 5

          • Gina says:

            Jackson, who I don’t think is better than Perez but w/e, and Sonnastine also play in the AL against a pretty hard hitting division. Not to mention Perez was helped by playing in Shea and luck, he gave up WAY more line drives and fly balls than Sonnastine did that ended up as outs because of our defense and being in a pitchers park, tropicana is a slight hitters park and more offensively friendly than Shea.

            Not to mention you can look at the ERA’s against other teams that the thereal posted, that’s stinking it up.

        • stilltheEWM says:

          The only one on that list with ANY weight is the Nats…

          We play the phils 20 something times…which is why Ollie has 26 innings (4 starts) against them which he DOMINATED…

          the rest of the players on that list 6? Which is why the numbers are skewed… cause he had 1 or 2?

          Johnan has a 7.20 ERA against the Reds..does that mean hes no good?

        • therealsince86 says:

          Actually his ERA gainst everyone else is around 4.82.

        • stilltheEWM says:

          His ERA for the season is 4.22.. your boy John Garland is 4.90…

        • therealsince86 says:

          No it does not. It says that Perez is an inconsistant pitcher that only pitches 5 2/3 innings did not pitch more than 7 2/3 innings all season has a 4.22 ERA and a climbing walk rate. It also says that he wants way too much money and years for those numbers.