Cubs send Cedeno and Olson to the Mariners for Heilman
The Chicago Cubs made a trade on Wednesday morning as they packed Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson together and traded them to the Seattle Mariners. The return for the 2-for-1 trade, the Cubs received pitcher Aaron Heilman.
Heilman last pitched for the New York Mets in 2008 and was traded to the Mariners in the deal for J.J. Putz. Heilman would rather be a starting pitcher and could compete for the 5th spot in ther rotation like I had blogged about a couple of days ago. If not, look for him to throw long relief out of the bullpen.
In the end and looking back at the Pie for Olson trade, the Cubs basically traded Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno for Aaron Heilman. Something sure looks messed up there if you ask me. Jim Hendry should have got more of a return out of Pie and Cedeno even if they were both out of options.
I should also pass along that Bruce Levin has said that the Cubs will sign backup catcher Paul Bako to a one-year contract for $750,000 now that there is a roster spot open after the trade today. They are also still looking at possibly adding Randy Wolfe or Braden Looper. They are also interested in adding Juan Uribe for bat off the bench and a backup infielder.
Your thoughts on this trade?
Do you think this completely ends the Jake Peavy speculation? I would assume it would and I am not happy about it.
The man crush Hendry has for Heilman is sickening. He totally overpaid for this garbo pitcher. What can Heilman do that Marshall, Guzman, Shark, Gaudin, etc. cant? Nothing. And to be honest I might actually rather have Garrett Olson on the active roster over Heilman. At least he’s a lefty and has potential.
If the Cubs don’t come out of this offseason with Jake Peavy, I am going to give them a D for a grade. I don’t think they have gotten better at all. They may have even gotten worse.
If they get Peavy, I’ll give them an A for an offseason grade. That’s how big of a difference Peavy would make. He would easily be the ace of our staff.
I thought the Olson trade was for the Padres to be honest. If the Cubs do trade for Peavy at some point this season it looks like they are going to have to send the Padres another pretty decent prospect besides Vitters.
Hendry has had a bad off season so far in my opinion.