About Last Night ….
-
- August
- 6
Jerry Manuel needs to stop dancing. He really only has two choices to be his closer while Billy Wagner is out: Aaron Heilman or Ed Kunz.
Since he already tapped Heilman, I think he needs to stay there, otherwise he’ll lose the already confidence shaken reliever.
If not, and he goes with Kunz, then stay there.
For this job, the manager can’t waffle – one or the other.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 1:14 pm by John Delcos.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Advertisement
According to Omar, Kunz is the mets future closer. Heilman has been with the mets now for at least three years and has progressively gotten worse so he has had his chance. Let the kid close, it can’t get any worse than what heilman has done.
I agree tomg, I am a huge proponent of putting a young prospect in the spot where he will likely be used in the future. Brings back to mind the painful day of watching David Wright stuck in the bottom of the order under Willie. Great idea….stick a young future star in the 7 hole where he will see nothing but junk and no fastballs. I hated that move. While this is very different, I say put him in the spot where he is projected to be. Don’t baby the guy. There is a reason why MLB closers look the way they do, cause they are tough and can handle all sorts of pressure. So put the kid in the closer’s role, if he blows it, throw him back in there. Like we all have said before, we would rather lose with our young talent than watch what we watched last night!
About Heilman: I’m surprised this guy is still on this team, this is the the same guy that kept us out of the world series in 2006 when he gave up that HR to Molina in the playoffs.(I can’t forget that)
About Wright: I think it’s time to give him another day off. It worked the last time maybe it will work again.
About Shoeneweis: I really start praying when this guy comes in to a ballgame.Absolutely no faith in him.
About Tatis: who needs Alou.
I have no confidence in Heilman in a tight spot. He has great stuff but when the game is on the line, its ball 1, ball 2, then meatball over the middle and over the fence. That is if he doesn’t walk the guy. He can’t hit his spots under pressure. He throws that change-up waist high half the time so if the batter is not totally swinging on fastball speed its a HR.
I’d rather see Kunz close.
If they put Kunz in as closer he better succeed or he may get stuck with the worst nickname ever by the fans.
Free Eddie Kunz!!! I think Mets management fears that if he comes in and gets a big save that he will run around down the rightfield line and start slapping five with all the fans ala a former #44. It’s the number they fear, that’s the problem. Change your number Ed and you will get a chance to close.
As I posted in the last thread, Heilman is 6 for 19 in save chances. You cant run him out there again. The mets were fortunate to come away with a win last night and they cant afford to give any games away at this point. The only answer is kunz. Lets hope he is ready.
I checked on this, and every single one of these 13 blown saves occurred as a set-up man; i.e., it was Heilman coughing up a lead in the 6th, 7th or 8th innings—not when closing in the 9th. As a 9th-inning closer, Heilman has never blown a save in his career.
The appropriate stat for a set-up man is holds. Heilman has 66 holds in 79 opportunities over his career.
Good call Tiffany. However, it still sucks as i’m sure the 13 blown holds were probably within the past year and a half.
2005: 5 for 6
2006: 26 for 31
2007: 22 for 27
2008: 13 for 15
Based on this, I would imagine that Heilman’s real problem has been in tie games (which don’t count as holds or blown saves).
Tiffany, A save can for one inning of work or 3 or 4 or 8 innings. The rule is his team has a 3 run lead or less, he qualifies for a save. If the relief pitcher pitches more than 3 innings, he can still get credit for a save even if his team is leading by more than 3 runs. Of course, He has to be the one to finish the game to qualify, so technically, and leave it to wally to find a way to make the numbers look as bad as possible, his stat could be correct.
Oh, I get it…so, when Heilman was being used in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings, the Mets were planning on having him finish each of those games? Good point. Better run it by Wagner, though.
I was waiting for your snappy comeback. Thats the rule. We all know that Wagner is the closer, but wally took a liberty and he is tecnically right. I can still remember a time when closers came on in the 7th inning and closed it out. Just because it rarely happens now, does not change the rule.
Wally is either ignorant or purposefully misleading. I’m not sure it matters which one, though.
Wallys main purpose in life is to make the mets look bad, so im sure its the former.
So, then, why are you citing him when you admit he’s ignorant?
Because sometimes he points out things that other writers dont. Thats why Mets fans all hate him. Sometimes the truth hurts. He didnt have to dig up that statistic to let us know Heilman melts under pressure. The stat only helps to underscore it. By the way, theres no such thing as a blown hold, so it can only be a blown save.
The stat is misleading when applied to set-up men; you’ve admitted that it’s reflective of the writer’s ignorance; and yet you still cite the writer. What am I missing?
It is what it is. I went to Heilmans stats on nymets.com and its right there in orange and white. 6 saves in 19 save opportunities. Yes I dont like the writer, but as John Adams once said ” facts are stubborn things.”
Upon further investigation, its interesting to note that heilman has finished 78 games in his career, including 16 this year. Once again, despite there being over 20 different stats listed, there is none for blown hold.
It is what it is? So, then, you’re content to be equally deceptive and inappropriate?
I just checked on some numbers for set-up men.
Okajima is 1 for 8 in converting save opportunities this year. Romero is 1 for 5. McClellan is 0 for 4. Qualls is 2 for 8. Pena is 1 for 4.
For his career, Broxton is 10 for 23.
It’s a very misleading stat when applied to middle relievers, as they get tagged for the blown save when they fail, without ever getting credit for the save when they succeed.
Your right, Tiffany. Heilman is great. Please excuse me.
I’ll be happy to excuse your ignorance; your arrogance not so much.
And, no, it’s not that Heilman is great; it’s that blown saves is a bogus stat for set-up men.