In an article for MLB.com, Marty Noble speaks with former Mets pitcher Aaron Heilman regarding his trade to the Mariners.
Heilman, as quoted by Noble:
“This is just the next chapter in the life of a baseball player. What do they say? ‘If you haven’t been traded, released, booed or aired out by your manager, you haven’t played long enough.’”
“I never wanted to leave because I got booed. I never had the feeling I wanted to leave New York. I loved playing there. I’m looking forward to the new opportunity, whatever it is.”
…any heilman post is usually received with bitterness, which is not entirely unjustified, but i know people who know aaron personally and he is truly a great guy who just wore out his welcome here in new york…a fresh start will do him good and i wish him the best…
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I had some hope that Heilman would turn it around and become our Ryan Madson, but I’ll take Putz.
I always enjoyed Aaron’s interviews, he is an intelligent, interesting guy. I wish him well. I’ll certainly be checking the box scores to see how he, Endy and Joe Smith are doing.
i hear you, regis. i didn’t want to see him on the mound, but i always respected him for facing every interview after a bad outing. good luck elsewhere aaron.
Adios Aaron. Good thing they traded him to another coast and another league so if does turn things around they won’t come back to bite them in the rear-end.
goodbye mr. heilman. i’m sure youre a great guy. but thank GOD you are out of our bullpen. good luck!
Who cares about wishing him well. Just make sure he leaves… and leaves quickly!!
I was always a huge defender of his. Last year, he was just plain awful, but in 06 and 07, he threw a ton of innings very well.
People didn’t seem to realize how important the quantity of innings was. If he wasn’t throwing them, someone else would be.
But last year, not so much. Good look, Aaron.
i wish him luck
I always like Heilman, and thought he could still turn it around here. However, we’re better today and he gets the chance to turn things around in a market that won’t brutalize him. I hope he gets the chance to decide whether or not to be a starter, and is given the chance. Best of luck to him.
good luck Aaron, i always stood behind you, (well until, the end of 08, but no offense) i wish you the best!
The thing that is great about this Putz trade, in addition of course to him being a lights out reliever, is that Omar can deal him just before he leaves for free agency. I hope the Mets pick up his option after this season. It’s clear that he’s going to pack his bags and go elsewhere to be a closer again though. Down the road, Omar can probably get a tremendous package at the deadline for Putz. Even if we did not deal him away, it’s likely that he’ll be a Type A free agent and we’ll collect two draft picks for him.
My momma always said….if you can’t say something nice….
So, i’ll say this …I hope he makes it safely to Seattle.
I wish him luck. I think he was a good soldier while being stuck in a role he did not want to be in. I hope he does well in Seattle. It a shame he had to get booed as hard as he did.
Good luck Aaron, but good riddance as well.
No offense..but the guy could be Ghandi…as long as he was blowing ballgames I couldn’t take him..It’s callous but he doesn’t know me and I don’t know him..our relationship (as little of one that there is) is based on him doing his job and winning so I am happy and feel good for caring about the team. For that he gets paid more than I will in my life…it is a fair trade off..good luck in Seattle
Good luck with whatever it is you’ll be doing at Safeco Aaron.
Aaron Heilman never got his due respect from Mets fans. They booed him when he performed badly but never gave him the credit he deserved when he was on the mark (which, before this year, was most of the time). I hope he thrives in Seattle – he’s a good, genuine guy, and a hardworker, and deserves nothing but success.
Well roman, if you are a fan of more than one year, you could acknowledge that Aaron certainly did his part to help the Mets win over the last few years. He needed a change of scenery, for sure, but well wishes since he’s out of the NL east.
The bottom line is that we just Beyonce’d the $hit out of our bullpen and upgraded…
k-rod + putz > heilman + smith
Amen. Hope he gets a shot at the rotation.
I agree with the Aaron supporters. I love the guy. I hope he does well. And I hope if he ever comes back to the area (visiting or otherwise), he’ll be well received.
good luck to aaron, a lot of us appreciate the good times that came along with the bad times. I hope he escaped mostly intact.
What’s amazing is that this kid Green we’re getting from Seattle would have probably been Manuel’s choice to CLOSE last season after Wagner was hurt. I really, really like this ne wbullpen.
I always thought he was overrated. He has zero balls period. I think he is the main culprit for the bullpen collapse in the past 2 years. He was always afraid to pitch inside(like all the Mets pitchers).The Mets finally got 2 relievers with balls. Good riddance. I can’t wait for the Mets to play Seattle in interleague and watch Heilman get tatooed.
Interesting that if Omar get’s rid of Shoe, he’ll have gotten rid of the three bullpen amigos (Heilman, Smith and Shoe).
I’d trade Shoe over Feliciano strictly because of salary considerations, even though Shoe statistically did better than Feliciano.
I have a feeling every pitcher we lost in the Putz trade is going to be a great pitcher for their new teams. The way I see it, if you can perform in New York, the biggest stage there is, then you can dominate anywhere else. I’m especially looking at you, Joe Smith.
What happens to FreeAaronHeilman!
I wish Aaron the best of luck and hope he becomes a starter!!!
I wanted Heilman out of the mets bullpen, but i was more then willing to give him a chance as a 5th starter for us…but again, I wish him the best!
I’m thrilled Heilman has been traded so he gets a better chance to start — something he’s better suited for. I bet he’s at least as effective as someone like Jason Marquis … with a chance to be better.
He was untreated unfairly by the fans, given the fact he was forced into the pen. Too bad they waited this long to trade him as he’s wasted precious years in the pen that could have been used to develop as a starter.
I wish him the best of luck.
lol, CaseStreet, I will shortly shed my moniker and go back to my regular one.
With everything that goes on today It says a lot about a pro athelete who just does what is asked of him and keeps his mouth shut FOR YEARS! Just like all mets that get traded, he will go out there and do well.
I’m putting the over/under at 13 wins.
See ya, Aaron. You tried and tried and there just wasn’t a fit. Good luck elsewhere!
It still confounds me as to why the Mets wouldn’t let Heilman take another shot at being a starter. I thought he should have been sent down, if he still had options, to try his hand at starting again. It’s hard to consistently perform well when you’re not happy with your role, no matter how much of a trooper you are.
Listen….he was OK in 2006 he was good for the first half of 2007 he was terrible last year. Any time you put a Phillie Uniform in front of him he folded like a cheap suit. He is a nice guy who was not big in the big spot…and for TBlz I am a Met fan, I root for my team and I rarely hate my players (not a booer) but this guy was in Benitez territory with me…Benitez performed well but choked when it mattered. That is Heilman’s career here. He is not in my Mota/Rojas pantheon of most hated Mets but his departure is a plus for the team and the fact they got Putz is amazing.
Best of luck, Aaron. Especially since you’ll be in the AL and not much of a threat to us if you make it good as a starter – lol.
What I don’t like about the fans here that are going out of their way to say “I don’t wish him well” is their inability to separate effort with success. I cringed just like the rest of you when Heilman got the call to come into the game. I cursed him and I threw my remote against the wall on several occasions. But when has he complained? When has he been caught dogging it? When has he threw his teamates under the bus?
I wish him nothing but the best and I too bet he becomes a productive starter. I’m not going to let the fact that he did not succeed this past season blind me from the fact that he shut his mouth and went out to pitch when he was called upon. I guess in this city you’ll have morons hoping he fails anywhere he goes because they think his lack of success warrants that type of reaction.
I think the reasonable among us don’t think that. I think for the most part we do hope Heilman pitches well from here on out. And if he wins 20 games and Putz injures his elbow during the first week of April, I’ll still feel this trade was a MUST.
Jesus was a great guy also, but I heard he couldn’t place his fast ball. The opposing hitters would crucify him.
Yes … the fact that they got Putz is excellent and Omar is to be commended for that deal.
But the point is, the team and Heilman (and the fans) would have been better off if two years ago they had either traded Aaron or at least given him the opportunity to start (not a guaranteed job .. but just a real opportunity).
How anyone can compare him to Benitez is beyond me. Benitez was a reliever and relished that role. The Mets paid tons of money to him to relieve. Heilman never wanted to be a reliever and was never paid a huge amount of money.
BOSCOV,
WELL SAID.
I always thought Heilman got a raw deal, not getting another chance to start. But, good riddance. He’s given up way more than his share of game-tying/go-ahead HR’s.
Heilman cost us a chance at the World Series and deserves nothing more from us than a mushroom stamp. Good riddance.
Oh geez. Stop blaming Aaron for the ‘06 playoffs when there were plenty of goats to go around that year including Mota, Trachsel, Wagner, Beltran and Valentin. Valentin couldn’t even get a stinkin’ sac fly when it mattered most.
Getting a bag of balls for Heilman was a plus. That guy was completely useless. Watching him was worse than anal rape, complete and total torture!!!!!!!!
i would rather this guy go win a cy young in seattle then to ever have to watch good old number 48 trot out from the pen and give up a couple gopher balls
Whoa there, Rusty….
what did ya think of Lima Time then?
i’m not gonna miss his hang-dog body language or his eliot spitzer grimace every time he gave up a crippling long ball. i hope he does better in seattle but i don’t have much sympathy for him. he did ask to be traded.
“How anyone can compare him to Benitez is beyond me.”
Easy, both were relievers that put up very good numbers but blew games in huge spots. Don’t give me this he relished the role crap. They get paid to play. If Heilman tried less because he wanted to start I have no respect for him (and he did try, and he did care he just choked.) This after the fac, whoa is Aaron, good luck brigade is just silly. If He was on this team in April the people wishing him well would be killing him and Omar.
For two and a half years, Heilman was one of the best setup men this team has had. For four and a half years, he did whatever this team asked. His first game when he was moved to the pen (which followed a 1 hit shutout) was a Kris Benson start in which KB was returning from the DL and could only throw 3 or 4 innings, so AH filled in the rest. By the final month of that season (2005), he was the closer (once BL shut down). He never wanted to be in the ‘pen, but each year, once the season began, he never complained, protested or blamed the pen for his failures.
His pitching in ‘08 was awful, and for his own sake and that of the Mets, he needed to go, and Seattle might be the best (other than Japan). While I’m convinced he can never be better than a #5 starter, I’m glad he’ll get that opp. Stand up guy.
Like most fans, I don’t hate Heilman the man, the person. I hate who he was a as a Mets player. He became one of those guys you could not depend on to make or or help us win.
After 2007, 2008 was his second chance to put things right. He didn’t and he absolutely had to go.
I wish him great success as long as it isn’t against my Mets.
Lastly, I find it impossible to listen to any professional athlete who says booing doesn’t bother him. Paaaalleeeeeezzzee.
“Don’t give me this he relished the role crap. They get paid to play. If Heilman tried less because he wanted to start I have no respect for him (and he did try, and he did care he just choked.)”
Sorry, but it’s absolutely true. Benitez was a closer by training and trade … and signed a big contract with the Mets to continue to do it.
Heilman NEVER wanted to be in the pen and his agent told Omar that a few years ago. And until this past season when he made just over $2 mill, he was making relative peanuts. Of course he didn’t try less. He is a pro. But motivation and desire always play into performance and I’m sure that was the case with Heilman.
If he were still on the team in April, the only one I would be killing is Omar.
heilman wasnt a relief pitcher he was a disaster
THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT HEILMAN NEEDED A CHANGE OF SCENERY, HOWEVER, LETS NOT FORGET ONE THING IT WAS RICK ( I CAN FIX ZAMBRANO IN 10 MINUTES ) PETERSON THAT TURNED HIELMAN INTO A 2 PITCH PITCHER WHEN IN FACT HE IS A 4 PITCH PITCHER.
HEILMAN HAS THE STUFF AND THE SIZE TO BE VERY SUCCESSFUL, NUMEROUS TIMES HE CAME OUT OF THE BP AND WAS LIGHTS OUT.
DO YOU THINK THAT THE INTEREST IN HEILMAN BY OTHER TEAMS WAS PITY OR IS IT BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT HEILMAN WAS RESTRICTED FROM USING HIS FULL REPERTOIRE ?
WHY DO YOU THINK THE METS DID’NT UNLOAD HIM AFTER THE INFAMOUS HR BY THE IMMORTAL YADIER MOLINA OR SUBSEQUENT HR’S THEREAFTER?BECAUSE HIS STUFF IS NASTY, UNFORTUNATELY FOR US HE WAS NOT ABLE TO GET THE JOB DONE ON A CONSISTENT BASIS, BUT WHO’S FAULT IS THAT ?
MAYBE WE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM A SHOT IN SPRING TRAINING FOR THE 5TH STARTER SLOT, IN ANY EVENT, WE GOT PUTZ AND I’M SATISFIED, THAT SAID, I HAVE A FUNNY FEELING THAT GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO START IN SEATTLE HEILMAN IS GOING TO THRIVE.
97mph fastball, plus changeup. From 2005-2007 he was possibly the best set-up man in the National League, and during the awful collapse of ‘07, he was the only pitcher who stepped up and gave us solid innings out of the pen time after time. Yes, he had one really bad year in 2008 but he deserves much more respect than he’s ever gotten.
I was at Shea for his one-hitter and it was no fluke. When he was on, he could dominate a ballgame.
I’m glad we got Putz and I’m happy (for his sake as well as ours) that he’s gone. But I hope he gets his chance to start and I hope he excels.
I attended Aaron’s first professional start at PSL on August 7, 2001. On that basis I’ll miss him.
A chance will do you good Aaron. NY is a tough crowd. Best of luck.
FYI…I never booed you.
good bye. I will never miss you whatever you do with another team.You are a nut case…,but yea i never did boo you and booing you as you come out to the mound,before you even through a pitch is rediculous and i dont blame you for not wanting to pitch well.(if that was the case)
honestly its best for both sides that heilman goes, that much is obvious. i probably booed him as much as anyone but oh well, whats in the past is in the past and a wish him good luck.
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