Poop on Heilman Trade

From: Seattlepi.com:

And thanks to Zduriencik, Aaron Heilman wasn't here long enough to pick up on even that much Seattle sports history, although he is now a teensy, fresh part of local lore.

His giant photo mural along the ballpark's First Avenue South sidewalk gallery lasted just 11 days, a club record. He also is believed to be the only Mariner to have been traded less than a week after making public appearances at the club's annual winter events, FanFest and the pre-spring training luncheon.

An incoming player rarely bothers to take on roomfuls of strangers, especially if the club knows he's going to be an outgoing player.

Zduriencik swears he had no idea that a player he went to some trouble to get would so soon be cast out.

"I told him how much I appreciated him coming here, his professionalism in doing that," Jay Z said. "I wanted him all along. But you never know what the next day holds."

The strange episode was not prompted by a revelation of a Ponzi scheme in his background, or a badmouthing of his bosses, or the discovery of the isolation of Seattle from the rest of major league society -- as former Seahawk Shawn Springs put it so memorably, "like playing in Egypt."

The curiosity happened because a better deal came along. If the trade works, it will mark a breakthrough day in Mariners talent management when sentiment and the "my guy" syndrome took a back seat. If Heilman wins the Cy Young Award under Cubs manager Lou Piniella, well, fans still have stored vegetable matter unthrown from the Bill Bavasi days.

On Jan. 28, Zduriencik traded Heilman, acquired Dec. 10 as part of a 12-player, three-team deal, to the Cubs for left-handed starting pitcher Garrett Olson and infielder Ronny Cedeno. Then he called an unprepared Heilman.

"I told him, 'You're probably going to be excited, but there's going to be an air of disappointment -- we just traded you to the Chicago Cubs,' " he recalled. "He said, yeah, he was disappointed. He just spent the weekend up there. He was looking for a fresh start. He thought it would be a great opportunity to start, and didn't know what would happen in Chicago."

As one Midwest guy to another, Zduriencik asked whether the Indiana native grew up a Cubs fan.

"I did," he said.

Zduriencik then went into sales mode, talking up Cubs history, likely contention in 2009, the more familiar National League, no uprooting of his family and the high regard from Cubs general manager Jim Hendry.

Since acquiring Heilman, Zduriencik and Hendry had gone back and forth on a trade because Hendry had a key slot for a guy who wanted out of the bullpen job that had befallen and befuddled him with the Mets -- No. 5 starting pitcher.

Zduriencik stood firm against Hendry's pleadings until he acquired Olson from Baltimore on Jan. 18. In 2005, Zduriencik, then with Milwaukee, scouted Olson when he pitched at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo before becoming a first-round pick of the Orioles.

Besides being a lefty with a great breaking ball, Olson at 25 is five years younger than Heilman and will be under contractual control of the club for five years, instead of Heilman's two. He also started 26 games for Baltimore last season (9-10, 6.65 ERA), whereas Heilman hadn't started since 2005.

Zduriencik pushed his leverage, asking that Cedeno, 26, a three-position player who hit .269 in 99 games for the Cubs, be included in the deal. At that moment, Hendry, on vacation in Italy, hemmed and hawed as he stood outside the Vatican. Then he wanted an hour to think about it. When he called back to say yes, Zduriencik couldn't resist: "You must have gotten divine inspiration."

Even without a papal blessing, Zduriencik was thrilled, because as he explained to the crestfallen Heilman, it was a two-for-one deal that besides almost equivalent pitching, netted the Mariners the quality infielder that might get sometimes lazy starters Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez to do something other than take their jobs for granted. Good baseball, good business.

Zduriencik said Heilman bought the logic, and left Seattle without hard feelings and with a little bit of First Avenue history.

"I was really excited about Heilman as a starter, or in the bullpen in the eighth or ninth inning," he said. "But we get an infielder who can back up three positions, plus a young lefty starting pitcher.

"Quite frankly, it worked out great for us."

That remains to be seen, of course. What can be deduced from this odd tale is that Zduriencik is resistant to the distressing GM habit of sticking with his own acquisitions in order to justify them, as opposed to moving players in the team's best interest.

It looked a little embarrassing for both Heilman and Zduriencik, but the awkwardness was a small price to pay for improving the roster with major league talent.

Now if he can just understand the Steelers are devils on earth, Zduriencik might fit in around here.