Jerry Manuel offered an alibi for Aaron Heilman's miserable string of outings. The interim manager revealed, and Heilman confirmed, the righty has been dealing with left knee tendinitis since spring training. Manuel said the problem affects Heilman's landing during his delivery and therefore his location.
...
For his part, Heilman tried to minimize how much it has accounted for his 5.38 ERA. "There were probably a handful of games where I felt it affected me," said Heilman, who has appeared in just two games this month.
Now obviously all of the standard stuff applies here. Injuries are generally only mentioned when a player is underperforming, and for all we know Heilman's knee wasn't a contributing factor to his struggles at all. But where before I heard about this we had a list of X number of explanations for what went wrong in 2008, now our list has X+1 explanations, with the latest addition being a knee injury from which Heilman will presumably recover over the winter. And that, in turn, increases our projected odds of seeing him bounce back to being an effective, if not excellent pitcher again in 2009. It's simple math. Even just the possibility that this was the problem improves our perceived immediate outlook, if only by a little bit.
I don't know about you, but I'm excited to find out what Heilman can bring. Pitchers like him can cost a fortune when they're going well, but their value can drop considerably after a bad year, even if their stuff is intact. Heilman's stuff is intact. Technically, he has 50% more stuff than he had a year ago. It's just that his command went on the fritz last season, with disastrous results. He still throws a fastball in the mid-90s and a devastating changeup that misses bats more than 20% of the time it gets thrown, and even without mentioning his slider, guys like that make for good gambles when they're down. While there's obvious risk, there's also obvious upside, and Heilman has the potential to make last week's trade look like an absolute laugher.
0 recs | 44 comments
Hopefully he isn't the only player to rebound from an injury
If the players who were “injured” rebounded and started displaying what they could really do…
Slurvey - December 17, 2008
"injured" ??
msb - December 17, 2008
I think he means Morse.
Faux - December 18, 2008
I dunno
surgery for a subluxation would seem to be an injury, not an “injury”
msb - December 18, 2008
Morse suffered a subluxation?
When? How did I miss that?
Llewdor - December 18, 2008
um
April?
msb - December 18, 2008
It was one of the best things ever
Graham MacAree - December 18, 2008
Did he get a bad read/jump and then dove late for the ball?
BrianL - December 18, 2008
Yes...I was at the game..it was after he misplayed a ball over his head. So he hesitated and dived all goofy.
kentroyals5 - December 18, 2008
AHEM! Read my avatar! ------>
PositivePaul - December 18, 2008
That said...
Even I didn’t think Morse should’ve been playing the outfield, and I’m one of the last few Mike Morse fanboys on the planet remaining…
PositivePaul - December 18, 2008
I'm assuming he meant Bedard, but I went with the snarky answer.
Faux - December 18, 2008
No bedard was injured...
I was referring to Silva/Batista…
Slurvey - December 18, 2008
as someone who has had back spasms?
that is also an injury.
msb - December 18, 2008
He did make top plays this morning...
Wilder. - December 18, 2008
which top plays?
for the M’s this season?
msb - December 18, 2008
that must have been a short reel
pdb - December 18, 2008
Tendinitis sucks
I could see how it could explain away his bad season. He wouldn’t really be physically limited by it, but his knee would just hurt like hell all the time. I could see somebody losing focus and control by that.
Pebohead - December 17, 2008
I knew his change was good, but I had no idea his fastball was that fast.
Teej - December 17, 2008
I would love nothing more than to get the last laugh on Mets fans who practically ran him out of town.
Benne - December 17, 2008
We should keep a running tally of potential improvements from aching issues
1) Aaron Heilman’s left knee tendinitis (healed over time?)
2) Adrian Beltre’s two-season-long torn ligament (had surgery in September)
3) Erik Bedard’s shoulder problems (cyst removed through exploratory surgery; good article here, btw)
4) Carlos Silva’s back issues (told to lose weight, issue pending….)
ThundaPC - December 18, 2008
Man, if things break our way.
This team could play .500 ball. For the first time in a long time I can feel optimistic about the Mariners. Ironically, everyone will probably predict that they will suck, which would be the complete opposite of last year.
Fin - December 18, 2008
Batista also had back problems and Clement's knee is all funky.
Slurvey - December 18, 2008
Batista's back problems could actually help the team
that is, unless he tries to pitch through it.
PascoJoe - December 18, 2008
Tendonitis?
If that were the issue, did he get a cortozone shot? Tendonitis brings pain, but doesn’t injur. Did he go get anesthetic patches? I got a box of lidocain patches. Dude needs to take care of himself. Knee pain is managable.
TheEmrys - December 18, 2008
Not always that easy.
I’ve been battling knee tendinitis for 2 years now, and I’m an otherwise healthy 21 year old who takes good care of himself. Granted the stresses I put on my body are much different than the ones Heilman is putting on his (80+ miles a week competitive running vs. however much he pitches). That said, his medical team and facilities have got to be about a million times better than what my school provides, but still, it’s not always as easy as just saying “dude needs to take care of himself”. I’m pretty sure he’s spent a significant time over the last X months working on his knee – he’s a professional athlete. He’s not just sitting there wishing his knee would get better. Are you of the opinion that Bedard just needs to sack up and “get over it” as well?
Also, your spelling is atrocious. I know they’re not terribly common words but if you want to people to actually believe you know what you’re talking about you should probably be getting these right. Tendinitis, cortisone, injure, anaesthetic, lidocaine, and manageable. You were 4 for 11 in multi-syllable words. That’s bad. Methinks you don’t know as much about injury rehab as you’d like to think you do… just repeating what your PT says?
That said, I don’t see any way this ever puts him on the DL. It’s a nagging thing. If it’s bothering him we’ll see a couple bad outings followed by 2-5 days rest, bad outing, rest, etc with a couple good outings thrown in there. He might get the “Put on the DL for sucking” treatment at worst, but that’d basically just be a publicity move. Hope he’s spending the winter putting it behind him though.
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
I've had 6 knee surgeries.
And yeah, tendonitis is not an injury. Its pain. Differentiating between tendonitis pain and injury pain can be trickier. But there are ways to treat it. And I’ve had 15+ cortozone shots. It works remarkably well.
TheEmrys - December 18, 2008
And quit being an ass on spelling.
TheEmrys - December 18, 2008
That will not happen.
Spelling is important. Proper spelling makes you look like you know what you’re talking about.
CORTIZONE. it’s not hard.
pdb - December 18, 2008
I don't disagree but he could have been more diplomatic.
Aaron Campeau - December 18, 2008
This is true.
pdb - December 18, 2008
Yeah, it was a bit much for someone with 26 comments.
Teej - December 18, 2008
I'm not too concerned about it.
It’s a touchy subject for me and I have a tendency to take personal offense when people say stuff like “he just needs to get over it” or “he just needs to take care of himself” when referring to an injury (which is what it is), especially one that I’ve been battling for years. But advice noted for the future.
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
Look up "injury" in any dictionary, medical or otherwise
Merriam-Webster online has it as “hurt, damage, or loss sustained”. I fail to see how knee tendinitis is not an injury. Sure it’s not as debilitating as a broken ankle, but broken ankle isn’t as debilitating as a spinal cord injury, yet it’s still an injury. And if you’re going to bring your personal experiences in, the fact that you have had a grand total of 15 cortisone shots and 6 surgeries tell me you never really addressed the root of the problem and instead just worried about masking the side-effects. I’d hope Heilman is more concerned about addressing what’s causing his tendinitis than simply numbing himself up and pitching through it. Pain is there for a reason.
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
Don't be mean unless you're sexy.
Matthew - December 18, 2008
I might be sexy...
Who do I have to get to vouch for me?
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
One of the three people listed at the bottom of this screen.
Matthew - December 18, 2008
I was afraid of that.
I’ll play nice now.
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
Not Trusting Heilman
As long as there’s this looming specter of sending Morrow to the pen, I’m finding it difficult to like Heilman. The Mariners have too many starting pitchers and Heilman “I want to start” is making me nervous that Morrow will become the closer.
I’m really hoping Heilman thinks that being the closer is sexy enough to give up his ambitions of starting.
philosofool - December 18, 2008
I feel like there's a decent chance of this happening
Everything Z has said has indicated (to me) Morrow will get a fair chance at a starting spot and it sounds like that’s where he wants him. His dealing of JJ to NYM to go be a setup man despite JJ’s wishes to remain a closer also show a willingness to go against players’ wishes for the better of the team. If Bavasi was in charge I’d be much more worried about Heilman relegating Morrow to the bullpen than I am with Z. With Bavasi there would be a much greater chance of a “well he was requesting a trade so he could have a chance at starting, and he’s a tough veteran, so the least we could do is give him a shot and let Morrow close out games for a while” type attitude. I’m optimistic.
Terminator_X - December 18, 2008
The decision will ultimately come down to Wakamatsu and his staff (as indicated by Zduriencik)
And he’s recently noted Heilman as a possible closer candidate (not Morrow).
ThundaPC - December 18, 2008
Don't blame Heilman
for Bavasi signing a bunch of idiots.
PascoJoe - December 18, 2008
speaking of Jerry Manuel
he also thinks he might have Frod and JJ share the closing duties….
msb - December 18, 2008
It will be at least 70/30 JJ if
JJ is what he was in 2007 and Frod is not what he was in 2008.
They really overpaid for that bullpen.
PascoJoe - December 18, 2008
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