Relief Pitcher: Heilman asks to be a Starter
In a report for Newsday, David Lennon details a phone call made from Aaron Heilman to Omar Minaya, during which Heilman once again asked that he be a starting pitcher.
“We talked and he expressed himself,” Lennon quotes Minaya as saying. “He told me that he’d like the opportunity to start. 
But my job is to make sure I do what’s in the best interest of the team, and we still see him in the bullpen.”
Last night on SNY’s Mets Hot Stove, SI.com’s Jon Heyman again referenced Heilman’s ‘high-back elbow,’ which Mets officials believe could lead to injury if he throws more than 100 innings in a season, similar to Mark Prior.
In other words, according to Heyman, the Mets are looking out for Heilman’s health…by keeping him in the bullpen.
That said, the Rockies and D’Backs, among other teams, still believe that he can be starting pitcher, Heyman wrote in his blog for SI.com in early November.
…i still get the sense heilman will be traded for a relief pitcher, who has experience as a closer…to the Mets, it would be swapping out relievers…to the team getting heilman, they would be swapping a reliever for a starter…so, it makes sense on both sides, especially heilman’s, who would get a much-needed change of scenery and the opportunity to start, which he has earned…
By the way, to watch clips from last night’s Mets Hot Stove show, courtesy of SNY, click here.
