Mets To Deal Aaron Heilman?

With Aaron Heilman being named a goat in some New York papers, the idea has arisen that the Mets should look to trade him.  Seems like shaky logic – if Heilman hadn’t allowed Yadier Molina to go deep, would that change everyone’s opinion?

Whether or not it’d be a "sell low" move by Omar Minaya, Heilman’s going to have some major value on the trade market.  He’s got a 3.37 ERA over the last two seasons (195 innings, mostly in relief).  Next year will be Heilman’s age 28 season.

The tantalizing thing about the 6-5 righty is that he seems capable of starting in the bigs.  Heilman hasn’t been a full-time starter since ’04, and he struggled in the role.  But it’s the plus changeup that seems to leave the possibility open.  Heilman will throw it behind in the count, and if he can work in his slider he might be able to go six solid innings.

Many teams would have interest in Heilman.  While the Mets have holes at LF and 2B, the consensus seems that they’d look to acquire the scarcest commodity, a starter.  We hear a lot about Heilman as part of a Dontrelle Willis package.  How about two other guys I keep talking about – Jason Jennings and Jake Westbrook?  Both reach free agency after 2007.  Doesn’t seem that Heilman alone would be enough, but it would be a good start.  If the Mets are without Pedro and Glavine to start 2007, they’re going to need two good replacements.