Heilman to Cubbies

[Basketball Jesus]

Per Ken Rosenthal:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9143 ... m-Mariners

In exchange for Heilman, the Mariners will receive shortstop Ronny Cedeno and a minor-league pitcher, according to major-league sources. Heilman, long coveted by Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, will compete for the Cubs' fifth-starter job or pitch out of their bullpen.

I really, really like the deal. Cedeno has a good chance to usurp the SS spot from Yuni or, at worst, provide a capable back-up to both MI positions.

Guess this means the end of the Reegie/Crabbe era.

[Basketball Jesus]

The “prospect” is reported to be Garrett Olsen.

!!!

[Sweezo]

Jack sure likes to try to buy low on players who have lots of potential but just haven't lived up to it, either because of overly aggressive promotion or a limited chance for the player to put it together. I like his style...at best Heilman was a back of the rotation guy, same with Olson. Add in a guy to push Yuni possibly and...yeah, what's not to like?

[Basketball Jesus]

I mentioned elsewhere that Zduriencik basically turned back the clock on Heilman a few years and picked up a potential starting shortstop for his troubles. As much as I disliked the Putz trade for the reason over overvaluing defense at the sake of a valuable (by market standards) closer, this makes it all the more better.

[slaterbug]

I don't mind this trade, hopefully Cedeno and Olson live up to their potentional in Seattle.

[Ex-hippie]

So the Cubs essentially trade Felix Pie and Cedeno for Aaron Heilman. I might have preferred to skip the middleman and get Pie instead of Olson -- at least it would have been more buzz-worthy, and just maybe Pie could have competed for a starting outfield spot (with defense nearly equal to Endy Chavez, and offense at least equal and potentially much better than Chavez). I guess this shows how far Pie's stock has fallen; a year ago Cubs fans were talking about him like he was the greatest prospect since, I dunno, Shawon Dunston.

Anyway, the real benefit of having Cedeno is it might push Yuni to improve his fat ass. And if he doesn't, Cedeno is a marginally better player right now, so the team has upgraded a bit.

Olson seems to fit on the organizational depth chart somewhere near the level of Gaby Hernandez or Justin Thomas. Or, on second thought, maybe Cesar Jimenez is the best comp in the organization, as they seem to be similar pitchers. Let 'em all sort it out for a year in Tacoma and we'll all see what the team has in 2010, I suppose.

[Ex-hippie]

And after thinking about it further, I realize the M's system has a gargantuan a stockpile of Left-Handed Pitchers Without Great Fastballs Who Are On The Cusp Of The Majors And Will Draw Inevitable Tom Glavine Comparisons If They Succeed (tm):

Rowland-Smith
Jimenez
Olson
Feierabend
Vargas
Rohrbaugh
Seddon

Mind you, pitchers with this profile typically wind up less like Glavine and more like John Halama. But I'd be thrilled if just one of them turns into Charlie Leibrandt.

[Basketball Jesus]

I thought the regional comparison for soft-tossing lefties was Jamie Moyer.

[Ex-hippie]

I guess there's soft tossing and then there's soft tossing. High 80s or just barely scratching 90 should at least get you a Glavine comparison. (Actually, Glavine's stuff was harder than most people recognized, in the 91-93 range on a good day, which is approximately the same as supposed fireballer Mitch Williams. Reputation is all just a function of how you look on the mound, and Glavine had a smooth Warren Spahn-like delivery and he looked like an accountant, so he became the Patron Saint of Soft Tossing Lefties.)

Anyhow. Soft tossing lefties, we got 'em. At some point it might be overkill.