I’d let him battle for a starting spot in spring training. And make it a real battle this time, not like the farce of 2006 where Heilman dominated that spring, but the Mets decided that Juan freaking Padilla’s injury necessitated moving Heilman back to the bullpen.

The guy’s trade value is too low now to move him. And I think his years of being willing to pitch out of the pen despite never receiving a real opportunity to start require the Mets to at least give him a shot this time around.

He doesn’t have enough pitches to be anything more than an average at best fifth starter, he is 30 years old making a fair amount of money and has pitched a ton of innings and has as much bad karma attached to him as any Met since I don’t know Vince Coleman???. The fans hate him and with the exception of 2/3rds of the 2006 season and maybe one other year that I am forgetting, he has been nothing more than an average bullpen pitcher. The sad truth is that the Mets should have traded him two years ago when his value was its highest. He is also rather selfish and it is strange to me that he failed to disclose his supposed leg injury until the season was almost over. If we can get a decent Grade B type prospect for him, I’ll deal him. Otherwise, I really would prefer he not even make the roster.
Am I overstating it? Probably. But the guy just has become a symbol of the Met’s demise the last two years, fairly or unfair. and some people(not me but many others) will never forgive him for Molinia’s home run in 2006. I say cut bait.

the selfish part was about him insisting that he be a starter. There is zero data that suggests he can be an effective starter in the major leagues. he was somewhat effective in the bullpen in previous years and very good in 2006. But I fear that was maybe a fluke.
I don;t recall that the team knew all along about his injury. In fact, I recall Manuel being taken aback by it. But I admit that could have been posturing on his part or it could be my memory is faulty. And no, I don’t think that insisting on pitching through pain is a positive characteristic if you are not pitching effiectivly. I consider that to be sort of a macho thing that players do that actually hurts the team. Looper did the same thing in 2005 as you may recall.

there’sreally any great choice here. His value, at least in my opinion, is too low to trade him now without getting robbed in a deal, but it’s hard to imagine he’s going to be able to turn things around here with the way fans react to him. He could throw 15 scoreless innings and as soon as he blows a hold or gives up a long ball the boos will start raining in. Really I think the Mets front office just completely botched this whole thing. His starts from after he went back to his college arm slotting were much much better than the ones before, they either should have been allowed to start or they should have sold high on him when teams still valued him, more so than they do now, as a starter.

i say let him go. he’s a two-pitch pitcher at best. don’t you think, in all these years he’s spent as a member of the met organization, SOMEONE has tried to teach him a third pitch? and, if’in that’s the case, don’t you think we would have seen some signs of progress in developing it? The fact that he has a devastating change-up and fringe-average fastball does not — in my opinion — necessitate giving him a chance to start games. Two-pitch pitchers are relievers, and if he’s not happy with that, let’s cut ties and trade him. i’m sure he can be packaged with a lower-level prospect for another reliever (maybe huston street — whom colorado seems willing to spin off?) or traded straight up for a a b-level prospect (i’m looking in your general direction, oakland).

Pray he pitches well and recoups some of his value. If he pitches poorly, then cut him.