Chicago Cubs Trade Aaron Heilman To Diamondbacks

Late this afternoon, the Chicago Cubs traded RHP Aaron Heilman to the Arizona Diamondbacks for prospects Scott Maine (no relation to John of the New York Mets) and Ryne White.

Can Cubs GM Jim Hendry get a do-over from the 2008-2009 offseason?

Let’s see, he acquired Kevin Gregg to be the closer and that didn’t work out.

He acquired Milton Bradley to play right and be a force in the middle of the Cubs’ lineup and that didn’t work out.

He acquired Heilman to be a solid set-up man to Gregg and now that hasn’t worked out either.

I have no idea what criteria Hendry uses to evaluate players, but mental makeup is not one of them. Heilman couldn’t handle the pressure in New York with the Mets, so what made Hendry think he could handle it in Chicago where the pressure might be worse?

Any scout worth his salt could have told Hendry that Heilman wouldn’t work out in Chicago.

Going to the Diamondbacks is probably a good thing for Heilman. The pressure is not nearly as great in Arizona and the fans won’t want to rip his head off on every pitch.

Since Heilman was a non-tender candidate in December, the Cubs received just a couple of low-level prospects from the Diamondbacks.

Maine is a 24-year-old left-handed reliever, who had a 2.90 ERA with 61 K’s in 62 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2009. White is a 23-year-old, left-handed hitting first baseman, who hit .266 with six home runs and a .371 OBP in 116 games in Single-A in 2009.

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