Post: Bann the Man
As I've said before and will say again, anything Senior says, Young listens to.
My dad has always been a baseball guy, more for my sake I think than because of any deep-seated passion on his own behalf. But that doesn't mean the guy doesn't know baseball. And if there's one thing he has always pushed it's the Pen.
"Sip," he would say, "the Game is won in the 7th-9th innings."
I agree with the Senior. I really do.
Which is why I want to see Aaron Heilman in the pen, and young Brian Bannister in the rotation.
I feel this way for fairly straightforward reasons. Heilman makes our bullpen strong. He is a very solid middle reliever who along with Duaner Sanchez would give the Mets a formidable 1-2 punch leading up to Billy Wagner.
Without Heilman in the pen, the bullpen is weak. Plain and simple. And that is a problem.
We also have to look at Heilman vs. Bannister in the rotation. With Heilman, it's not like we are talking about the second coming of Pedro Martinez here.
The guy has had less than a handful of quality starts in his career. His 93 mph fastball out of the pen drops to 90 over 100 pitches and all of a sudden his changeup, his out pitch, isn't plus plus.
Heilman has basically proven as much as a starter as has Bannister. Both were high prospects and neither has proven a thing in the starter's capacity as a pro.
Sure, some will say that Heilman has had a great spring. Truth is that means little to me for a couple reasons. One, when Heilman has pitched in the spring he hasn't been pitching 7 innings.
His longest outing was a 5-innning start against L.A. on Wednesday. He's thrown 14 total innings this spring in 4 games started. Take 5 away from 14 and you get 9, divide that by 3, and Heilman averaged 3 innings per start in 75% of the games he's pitched. He's been pitching in brief "bullpen like" stints.
Two, as a general rule, Spring Training means dick. Remember Butch Huskey's 8 HR spring? About as good as it got for Old Butch. According to Billy Beane in the book Fantasyland, "Spring Training means shit!" Gotta agree with that sentiment, so Heilman's performance doesn't do much for me still.
The way I see it even if Heilman would be a better starter than Bannister, Heilman as a starter would not be as valuable as having Bannister start and Heilman in the pen.
I know many will disagree, but this is how I feel.
I don't know much, but I know that.
Stay up,
SM
My dad has always been a baseball guy, more for my sake I think than because of any deep-seated passion on his own behalf. But that doesn't mean the guy doesn't know baseball. And if there's one thing he has always pushed it's the Pen.
"Sip," he would say, "the Game is won in the 7th-9th innings."
I agree with the Senior. I really do.
Which is why I want to see Aaron Heilman in the pen, and young Brian Bannister in the rotation.
I feel this way for fairly straightforward reasons. Heilman makes our bullpen strong. He is a very solid middle reliever who along with Duaner Sanchez would give the Mets a formidable 1-2 punch leading up to Billy Wagner.
Without Heilman in the pen, the bullpen is weak. Plain and simple. And that is a problem.
We also have to look at Heilman vs. Bannister in the rotation. With Heilman, it's not like we are talking about the second coming of Pedro Martinez here.
The guy has had less than a handful of quality starts in his career. His 93 mph fastball out of the pen drops to 90 over 100 pitches and all of a sudden his changeup, his out pitch, isn't plus plus.
Heilman has basically proven as much as a starter as has Bannister. Both were high prospects and neither has proven a thing in the starter's capacity as a pro.
Sure, some will say that Heilman has had a great spring. Truth is that means little to me for a couple reasons. One, when Heilman has pitched in the spring he hasn't been pitching 7 innings.
His longest outing was a 5-innning start against L.A. on Wednesday. He's thrown 14 total innings this spring in 4 games started. Take 5 away from 14 and you get 9, divide that by 3, and Heilman averaged 3 innings per start in 75% of the games he's pitched. He's been pitching in brief "bullpen like" stints.
Two, as a general rule, Spring Training means dick. Remember Butch Huskey's 8 HR spring? About as good as it got for Old Butch. According to Billy Beane in the book Fantasyland, "Spring Training means shit!" Gotta agree with that sentiment, so Heilman's performance doesn't do much for me still.
The way I see it even if Heilman would be a better starter than Bannister, Heilman as a starter would not be as valuable as having Bannister start and Heilman in the pen.
I know many will disagree, but this is how I feel.
I don't know much, but I know that.
Stay up,
SM
posted by Sippy Momo at 11:32 AM
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