pitching for your major league life: JOSE LIMA

[Guest Edgy DC]

What's funny is that Heilman in the rotation would maybe make the Mets a team with the top four guys in the rotation having a changeup as their best pitch. (Maybe, as Trachsel, to my thinking, doesn't necessarily have a best pitch.)

[Guest Hillbilly]

Rotblatt wrote: Lohse is a disaster. He's been even worse than Lima through 8 starts this season. We should be able to get him for close to nothing (he just got optioned to AAA), but do we want him? He's been around average over his career, and that's worth something, but I'd much, much, much rather give Heilman a shot than throw Lohse in there. Lohse at best is going to be a competent #5 guy, but Heilman could be a #3.

I agree Lohse is a bad plan. Give Soler a shot. He has a good start last night and seems to be pitching well now that he's in the organization. Hell, he's been paid enough money - give him a look for a few starts to see if he can start earning some of that nice deal he got.

[Vic Sage]

this is just so so stupid.

Zambrano is out for the season. We're not looking for a short-term fix... we need to replace a #4 starter, who'll get 180-200 IP over the course of a season. And we'd rather keep Heilman to 60 IP for the year, while giving the additional 120 IP to Lima? or Lohse? or Gonzalez? or retread x,y, or z? or AA guys?

i feel like i'm in the Twilight Zone... everybody is speaking in tongues.

PUT HEILMAN IN THE FUCKING ROTATION GODDAMN IT!

you can replace his 7th inning role more readily than finding a solid SPer.

Julio has pitched better, and Heath Bell still has potential, and there are other candidates to whom you can give the ocasional 6th and 7th innings. But if we can't get into the 6th inning with a lead, isn't a great middle-inning/setup guy of less value? Its a luxury the Mets don't have right now.

I was never a big Heilman fan, but its not like he wasn't a dominant SPer in college, and a good one in the minors, and while he bombed early in that role on the Mets, he's shown alot the last 2 seasons.

this is even worse than batting Wright 6th-7th last season, reducing his ABs, or 5th (rather than 2nd or 3rd) this season. this is giving around 120 IP to guys like Lima, Gonzalez, etal, instead of Heilman, because your so concerned about giving Heilman's next 40 IP to Julio or Bell.

STOP THE MADNESS!!!

[Willets Point]

Ditto to Vic Sage.

[Vic Sage]

WP makes sense.

and don't talk to me about Heilman's "high leverage" innings. The highest "leverage" inning is the FIRST inning... i'm pretty sure that teams that take an early lead win a preponderance of those games. Letting Lima/Gonzalez/Lohse/Mays/etc consistenly put us in a 5-run hole by the 3rd inning really makes Heilman's "high leverage" 7th innings alot less meaningful.

and its not like we aren't going to have to use those crapsters in the 5TH SLOT in the rotation anyway, joining Maine, Bannister, Oliver and whoever in that mix. But turning over both the 4th and 5th SPer slots, behind a mediocrity like Trax in the 3rd slot, is a recipe for disaster and it MUST STOP RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Guest Edgy DC]

I agree that Heilman belongs in the rotation.

But the highest leverage inning is not the first inning.

[Guest Hillbilly]

Willie on the fan: Reaffirms that Heilman stays in the pen, but won’t commit to Lima getting his next start. He said we’ll hear something in a day or two about Jose.

I’m thinking this meeting to ‘reevaluate’ his situation to find out what his new job is with the Mets since he ain’t going to be a pitcher on the Major league roster anymore, and maybe decide who’s going to give him the bad news.

[nymr83]

Hillbilly wrote: I’m thinking this meeting to ‘reevaluate’ his situation to find out what his new job is with the Mets since he ain’t going to be a pitcher on the Major league roster anymore, and maybe decide who’s going to give him the bad news.

Willie: tell him

Rick: i ain't tellin him, i told the last guy

Willie: if you'd told the last guy why was he still here?

Rick: i thought i could fix him in ten more minutes, it's not my fault he went on the DL

Fred: ok Omar, you tell him

Omar: no, i can't disrespect one of my spanish countrymen, you'll have to tell him

Fred: so who is replacing this guy anyway?

Omar: theres this great hispanic pitcher on the dodgers who i hear is available, we can get him for Bell or Ring if we pay his salary...

Fred: pay his salary? what did i tell you about the budget!

Omar: well i'm sure if we gave up Pelfrey we could pay less

Fred: i'm liking what i hear... what if we threw in Milledge?

Willie: whoa, calm down guys i don't really think this guy is so good...

Rick: nonsense, i'll have him fixed in 5 minutes, Pelfrey will never be any good anyway, just like that scrub we gave the D-Rays, nobody even knows who he is now right?

Fred: well i do like the idea of trading 2 highly touted prospects for one washed up pitcher if it saves me on his salary, but what about internal options? you know, the ones that are totally free!

Omar: well, i did trade away Benson and Seo sot hat Heilman could pitch in the first place, maybe if we let him...

Willie: Hey! Heilman is my 5th inning guy! how the hell do you expect me to win ball games without having someone behind Wagner, Sanchez, Julio, and Bradford to pitch that crucial 5th inning!

[Vic Sage]

="Edgy DC"] But the highest leverage inning is not the first inning.

i know, but still.

can't the team at least acknowledge that its a better strategy to put heilman in the rotation and either (1) either find an adequate middle inning guy, or (2) spread the extra innings out of the rest of the pen, than it is to keep turning games pitched by Lima/etc, over to the bullpen (including heilman) in the 4th or 5th inning, by which time we're already down by 5.

we can keep aaron in the pen for those "high leverage" innings in the 6th and 7th, but 2 games out of 5 we don't have any high leverage innings for him to pitch.

[Guest Edgy DC]

"i can't disrespect one of my spanish countrymen"?

[Vic Sage]

hey Edgy... i didn't know you were from Spain!