This weekend we reported on how well John Maine performed in his rehab start for Port St. Lucie. He pitched four shutout innings while allowing just two hits, one walk, and striking out six. The news was even better when Maine said that he experienced no pain the next day.
“It’s a little tight but it’s just getting back to normal,” Maine said when asked how he felt. “But as of now, no pain. I didn’t have any pain Saturday night so this feels pretty good.”
Maine has been on the DL since June 7th.
According to report by Brian Costa of the Star Ledger,
Maine said it was after he met with noted orthopedist James Andrews July 29 that he turned the corner in his comeback. Up until that point, Maine said he had been throwing regularly and the shoulder was not getting better. He still felt the pain in between throwing, and began to think he would not be able to come back this year.
Andrews suggested he stop throwing for a while, and he did, shutting it down for two weeks. That made the difference, he said.
“That was something I probably should’ve done earlier but didn’t,” Maine said. “Soon as I was feeling better I started throwing off the mound and long tossing, I knew I was going to pitch this season.”
Maine also added that he is not 100%, but believes he will be by spring training after a couple of more months of rest in the off season. he seemed to get a little hot and bothered when a reporter referred to his injury as a tired shoulder which was what the Mets have called it.
The next step for Maine will be a bullpen session on Tuesday followed by a simulated game a day later. After that, manager Jerry Manuel said Maine would get to start the second game of next Sunday’s day-night doubleheader in Philadelphia.
“If he’s healthy, and he performs well, I think we need to see him,” Manuel said. “He’s a guy we need to see.”
Bring it on…
We need to see Maine on the mound and showing us what he’s got. It’s been far to long since we’ve seen him pitch effectively and if he’s able to compete without any pain, then get him on the mound and let’s see if he will be a factor for us in 2010.
Oddly enough though. Omar Minaya almost guaranteed John Maine will be back in 2010. It has been speculated by many that John Maine would be non-tendered this offseason and that the Mets would not offer him arbitration. Minaya seemed to debunk those rumors when he said,
“We are hopeful that he is going to be fine. Saturday’s outing was an encouraging outing. And we’ll see how he finishes the year. But we feel pretty good that he’s going to be OK. We are planning on him for next year.”
I like John Maine, and before he got hurt and had surgery over a year ago, I considered him to be a mainstay on the team and a solid presence in the middle of the Mets rotation. He’s one of those gritty type players that I love, and he can turn it up a notch in a big game when he needs to as we’ve all seen him do before.
A healthy John Maine would fit in perfectly as the team’s number three pitcher, but the Mets would still need a number two type pitcher to fit in between him and Johan Santana. But that’s another blog, for now let’s be content with the news that Maine is feeling good and could be pitching against the Phillies in six days.
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I can’t see the Mets not bringing back Maine, for better or for worse. He’s young and at his price, there’s nothing better available in the upcoming free agent class. The only way Maine won’t be a Met next year is if he can’t stay healthy for the last few weeks of the season.
I never understood the talk of non-tendering him. He’s had productive seasons and good games. And considering the problems we had with depth this year, and every year, we need good pitchers. I understand that he’s had injuries in the last 2 yrs., but it’s not like he’s aged 15 yrs. overnight. He’s not that expensive, and he’s still got good years left.
To me, the obvious question is why did the Mets wait until July 29 to send him to see Andrews? They were just merrily going along doing the wrong thing and allowing him to actually delay his return. They never considered that just perhaps what he actually needed was real rest! Looks like Maine’s injury was mismanaged as well.
If Maine thinks he didn’t have a “tired shoulder”, then what did he actually have? Looks like the Mets are hiding the true condition. Big surprise there.
Hopefully this works works out well, but we can’t discount the possibility of a setback. So keep your fingers crossed.
Because to do otherwise would have indicated an ability to be proactive and actually be marginally creative. Once the Mets do that once, we will expect them to do that all the time, so they simply choose every opportunity to be stupid. Omar must go!
I’m with you Joe, and I think Maine should be a decent number three pitcher if he’s healthy. Honestly, I’m more worried about Pelfrey, Niese, Figueroa, and Perez. I feel as though we need to trade one or two of these pitchers and get a consistent number three/four starter and sign John Lackey in the off season. I don’t see the four pitchers I mentioned as anything more than a solid number five pitcher and that includes the wildly inconsistent and erratic Pelfrey.
What has John Maine EVER done to be considered a Number 3? Maybe on a last place team, but he throws to any pitches, cannot put guys away, and does not go long into games. Even when healthy. He pitched above his head for one season. Remember: the Orioles gaveup on him. He is no better than a Number 5 on a team with any kind of chance and that is a maybe. Of course, we may not be that kind of team for some time. But looking at the glass half full, I say non-tender him.
Assuming Maine regains full strength, he must develop an off-speed pitch in order to put hitters away. Perhaps a change-up or a sinking/slider. The beauty of a sinker is that a hitter will follow it until its too late to lay-off, and just pound it into the ground. You can change speeds on that pitch, which would complement his fastball that he elevates in the strike zone.
Currently, a healthy John Maine rates as a 4th starter on a very good staff. If he masters his off-speed stuff, you could be very good for years to come. Most of all, I like his quiet, competitive streak.
I’m kind of excited to see how the rotation rounds out next year. I’d be thrilled with…
Santana
Halladay/Lackey
Pelfrey
Niese/Misch/Parnell
Maine/Nieve/Redding/Figgy/Ollie
And a bullpen of…
Righty: K-Rod, Putz, Stokes, ChadBrad, Parnell, Nieve, Redding, Figgy
Lefty: Feliciano, Bostick, Niese
That’s 8 pitchers to choose from for the last 2 rotation slots and 11 pitchers to select from for relief duty.
I consider Omar’s trading Wagner to be another critical mistake as he would have been our nuke from the left side. Just a very stupid trade.
The Wagner dump is inexcusable on any level. If he was not able to pitch well anymore, you decline the option and buy him out(wanna bet Omar will bring about 5 over the hill players into spring training that will cost more than the buyout?). If he CAN pitch, and all indications are that he can, then if the MEts are good next year he could be a huge part of a potentially great bullpen(wait, have we heard that before?, if we suck, then he is a great trade piece for another contender and we could certainly get more than a 26 year old minor ;eague journeyman and some 20 yr old hitting .212. This is a dump that makes NO sense. OMAR must go!
Correct, it was not a trade. It was a pure and simple salary dump. On top of that Omar was not even capable of pulling it off in a way to get value in return. He went one on one with Theo. No wonder the result! The only party to make out on this was the Wilpon’s who saved $3.5mil. Of course, the Sox and Wags came out pretty well also. How’d we do as Mets fans?… fuhget it!
Tommy2Cat – nice wish list but you can remove a few of those names from your list. Putz’ option will not be taken by the Mets. The Mets are not going to spend a lot of money this off season. My prediction is that the biggest free agent signing of the off season will be Jason Bay. After that, the Wipon well will have run dry.
It’s sad and I hope I’m wrong but you read it here first.
I think you’re too optimistic. Jason Bay will prove to be too pricey for the Mets.
In fact, if I’m the GM and Jeff Wilpon tells me I have to slash budget and consider trading Wagner, I’d tell him, “No. Deal with it. Jeff, either you want to win games, or get b!tch-slapped by Adam Rubin for another year. Your choice, bro.”
tomkittie i love your idea of signing Lackey.if they cant trading for Halladay.That with signing Bay is good enough for off season.As long as everyone is healthy.But i also believe Maine is best suited for the Mets to be the next setup guy.Then he wont have to worry about his secondary pitches.You never know they might have to package parnell in a trade for Halladay.
I for one would not be that eager to see him back, he goes not seem to have the energy or fire to want to pitch at this level. Sure he has potential but you get the feeling that he just won’t live up to it consitenly. But, having said that I would much rather find a replacement for Ollie and a 5th starter in the off-season, so I guess we can put up with Maine for another year.
Maine has plenty of desire and he is a very hard worker. What isn’t known is whether there is any capability left in his arm.