Interweb: Sportszilla: Start Man

by Eric Simon on May 18, 2006 10:22 AM EDT

Over at Sportszilla and the Jabber Jocks (gotta love the Simpsons reference), Ben Valentine makes a compelling case to move Aaron Heilman into the rotation:

On the other side, the Mets have guys who should be able to do a decent enough job as the seventh inning man. Heath Bell is pitching well enough at AAA. In 15 innings this season he has struck out 26 and walked just three, with a 1.15 ERA. Doesn't he deserve a chance at the bigs more than Gonzalez or Lima? Heck as much as Met fans hate him, Jorge Julio's strong peripherals suggest he's not nearly as bad as people think. This season he's striking out 14.73 batters per nine while posting a 3.73 K/BB ratio. His high WHIP and ERA suggest he's been more the victim of bad luck than anything else. And even if those options don't float your boat, there's always the trade market. A seventh inning guy shouldn't cost you much, but a good starter will cost you Lastings Milledge, Mike Pelfrey or both.

Ben makes a good point here. He mentions elsewhere in the article that we don't know exactly what to expect from Heilman, but the likelihood is that he will represent a significant upgrade over Lima, Gonzalez, and likely Bannister (at least the Bannister we've seen to this point). Refusing to give Heilman a shot in the rotation because you don't want to lose your third-best relief pitcher, well, that's just absurd.

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yep.

What the team should be trying to do is to maximize the number of well-pitched innings it gets from its staff. On the face of it, a pitcher who can start effectively is almost always more valuable starting than in the bullpen because he pitches more innings that way. There's only one argument against this: relief pitchers, especially good ones, tend to pitch in more important innings. I don't think this is a great argument in Heilman's case because (a) there are two relievers ahead of him in line for the most crucial innings and (b) a team that gives starts to the likes of Lima and Gonzalez is going to have a lot of games decided early, so its bullpen will be even less of a factor in its performance.

Heilman needs to get into the rotation post-haste if the Mets are going to hold on to their division lead.

by anonymous on May 18, 2006 10:48 AM EDT reply actions