Allow me to take a break from Tirico Suave’s Super Bowl De-Media Week*, where we combat the overexposure of the big game by not writing about anything at all, to give my thoughts on a trade that no one outside of Seattle or Chicago will care about.
My beloved M’s traded the recently acquired Aaron Heilman to the Cubs for Ronny Cedeno and the recently acquired Garrett Olson. Some analysis:
a) I never get excited about acquiring any prospect named Cedeno (see: Roger). Yes, he plays above average defense at a number of positions but according to Rotoworld, he “doesn’t hit well enough to be an asset elsewhere, and there were plenty of better choices out there if the Mariners wanted someone who could move Jose Lopez off second base. He’s just another infielder who probably shouldn’t fit into the team’s long-term plans.” Awesome. However, he isn’t much more than a throw in.
b) Granted, Olson is five years younger than Heilman, but I think I’d rather have the latter. The AL West over the last decade or so has been fairly unpredictable with every team having a real shot at the division at the beginning of the year (ok, maybe not the Rangers), so I’d rather have the major league ready player as opposed to the guy with a career ERA of 6.87, even if that’s over 165 career innings. I always like getting the more proven guy over the prospects/younger guys. Of course, that’s contingent on Heilman starting, which didn’t seem to be in the Mariners plans (someday, teams across baseball will realize that closers are about as important to a team as kickers are to NFL teams and will stop placing people who are capable of throwing more than one inning at a time in that role). I don’t know what it is with Olson, but he one of those prospects that seemed to be involved in every trade rumor, which, in most cases, is always a bit of a red flag. Plus, in having a somewhat passive interest in the Mets, I was excited, or at least intrigued to see what Heilman had to offer as a starter, a role which he’s coveted and adamantly pushed for over the last few seasons. I figured have a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a strong desire to prove that he is a major league starter, and he still might, but only for the Cubs and last I checked, nobody cares about the Cubs. It’s not a Bill Bavasi-type move, but I’m not real happy with it. I guess. Maybe. Actually, I don’t know anything really. In fact, the less of this you read, the better off you probably are.
*Not a real promotion. I’m just lazy.
