 Everyone, it seems, has a blueprint for fixing the New York Mets'
bullpen. Most of the “solutions” coming from writers, sports talk show
hosts, bloggers and fans have the Mets bringing in lots of arms, and
getting rid of most – if not all – the members of the 2008 relief corps. In fact, both Matt Cerrone from Metsblog.com and Ted Berg from SNY.tv
have spent more than a few minutes debating with me on the subject. With those discussions, and just about any that take place on a daily
basis with thise who care about the Mets' chances in 2009, the name of
Aaron Heilman sparks sharp dialouge. His inability to recreate his
usual reliable performance of the past few seasons, has seemed to earn
him quite a bit of the Flushing faithful's ire for much of the season.
It's hardly the first time he's been involved in trade rumors, and definitely not the first time he's been the scapegoat for a bullpen that's been a bungled operation – with the exception of the second half of 2006 -- since 2003.
Fact of the matter is, the former No. 1 pick has been mistreated, mishandled and misused for the majority – if not entirety – of his Mets career.
This year, despite being hurt for most of the season, he was completely overused by managers Willie Randolph AND Jerry Manuel, according to Joe Janish from MetsToday.com.
Janish, who played and later coached for the DIV I baseball program at St. Peter's, and is also a licensed hitting and pitching coach, says Heilman (and the rest of the Mets' bullpen for that matter) were horribly utilized this year, so the results should be understandable.
Lack of consistency, communication and proper utilization of his talents are nothing new to Aaron Heilman, though. He's been pretty much used to it from the time he left the South Bend campus of the Fighting Irish.
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From the time he was drafted, when some genius* in the Mets' front office decided that Heilman's arm slot (with which he dominated opponents during his college career at Notre Dame), should be changed, Heilman has been as much a victim of someone else's stupidity as well as his own inconsistency.
*Editor's note: It has always been a constant source of debate as to who made this decision. For the record, no one one will point a finger at any past or present Mets employee.
Further hampering his development was a lack of confidence and support from some of his very own coaches.
“Whoever drafted this guy should be fired”
Those were the words uttered by former Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson when he first saw a Heilman bullpen session during Spring Training in 2004. It was bad enough that the “whoever” was standing just a few feet away from him (former Mets VP of Player Development Gary LaRocque), but his stinging criticism reached Heilman's ears as well.
It was bad enough that the organization had altered his pitching motion, but to have the heralded Peterson be so callous in his first real interaction was, according to former Mets' minor league staffers, to be devastating to the then 25-year old starter.
Peterson later apologized to both LaRocque and Heilman for his ill-timed and inappropriate – and downright rude – commentary, but Heilman never really felt comfortable with Peterson afterwards. Even after Peterson – on advice from pitching consultant Al Jackson and then-Minor League Coordinator and current (for now, anyway) bullpen coach Guy Conti – helped restore Heilman's proper arm lot, the relationship was never quite the same.
Then, when told he would compete for the rotation in 2005 – and spent the winter and subsequent Spring Training excelling in his starting role, he was replaced by rookie Brian Bannister.
Granted, Bannister had an even better spring, but the 2005 rotation was also populated by the likes of Steve Trachsel, Kaz Ishii and the immortal Victor Zambrano. Because of injuries, Heilman did get a few starts in the early going that season , but would eventually be put back into the bullpen, where he has been one of the more consistent relievers in baseball over the last three years.
Of course, his terrible season in 2008 has been the topic of much debate this season, and into the offseason. Most of the folks who have called for his being dealt have come from the same boobs who thought that subtracting Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver from the 2006 pen that GM Omar Minaya called “the best bullpen in the National League” that season was a good idea.
“Bullpens fluctuate from year to year”, “Joe Smith and Chad Bradford are essentially the same pitcher”, and so on. Please, anyone who thinks that trading Heilman is a good idea, come on Gotham Baseball Live, Live From Mickey Mantle's, Gotham Nation or any of the other shows we produce on Gotham Sports Radio, I would LOVE to debate you.
The fact of the matter is, Aaron Heilman deserves the benefit of the doubt from the Mets, the fans and the media. He pitched through an injury this year that didn't only curtail his ability to stay on his regular workout regimen, but also likely altered his mechanics and effectiveness of his slider and change, the latter being his best pitch.
This is not to explain away, or make excuses for Heilman, but rather to infuse some perspective into this debate. Fans who have booed Heilman unmercifully since the Yadier Molina home run in Game 7 of the NLCS have always failed to include how sloppily he – and the rest of the bullpen – were used in that series, especially after a tidy three-game sweep of the Dodgers in the first round that year.
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