Unfortunately for all concerned, he didn’t succeed. It didn’t work. If Heisey could have claimed left field and performed, he would have been worth keeping.
But when given the chance, Heisey fumbled and stumbled. His forte was the bench, coming out of the dugout and delivering pinch hits.
He was becoming too expensive for a team like the Reds to keep around in such a limited role, so they were not going to offer him a contract. He would be non-tendered.
That meant Heisey would become a free agent at midnight Tuesday. Rather than lose him for nothing, the Reds did the best they could. They traded him Tuesday evening to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
One of the first reports said the Reds were getting outfielder Matt Kemp. Wrong Matt. The Reds received minor-league pitcher Matt Magill, a 24-year-old right-hander.
Magill was on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster all year but never tromped on the Dodger Stadium pitching mound. He remained at Triple-A Albuquerque all of 2014, mostly fighting control and command problems.
The Isotopes (yes, that’s Albuquerque’s nickname) used Magill as both a starter and a relief pitcher, with limited success in either role.
• As a starter: 12 starts, 5.24 ERA, 39 walks in 55 innings.
• As a relief pitcher: 24 appearances, 5.04 ERA, 20 walks in 30 2/3 innings.
Magill definitely is prone to take a walk on the wild side. But he is young, and as Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said, “He has a strong arm.”
The Heisey Saga is somewhat sad because he is a hard worker, a popular teammate and a fan favorite. He often showed flashes of what he could be, but when given the opportunity to play every day he fizzled. But put him on the bench and he succeeded.
Heisey was asked often about that and he would shake his head and say, “I wish I could explain it. I can’t. Maybe I put too much pressure on myself, but I never thought I did. They would give me chances and I wouldn’t do the job. It was nobody’s fault but my own.”
The Dodgers already have a loaded outfield, four guys they try to stuff into three positions, so what would they want with Heisey?
Probably for the same role he mostly served with the Reds: pinch hitter. Heisey had four pinch-hit home runs last year. The entire Dodgers team had one. During his 523 career games Heisey hit 50 home runs.
And they can use him as a defensive fill-in. Heisey played all three outfield spots last year and his defense was impeccable.
It is the same role he served with the Reds, but the deep-pocketed Dodgers have more dollars to spend on extra players.
And what will the Reds do with Magill? He most likely will be given an opportunity to win a bullpen spot next spring, but if he still encounters control and command issues he probably will be pitching next season for the Class AAA Louisville Bats.
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