15
2010
John Maine, The Mets X-Factor?
An article by Former Writers
My, my, my… It appears that we got a real wakeup call from John Maine the other day…
Ol’ Johnny Boy pitched in relief after a pretty neat showing by Johan Santana on Sunday, and here’s what he brought to the table: eight batters, five runs, three walks and three hits in less than an inning pitched as he was only able to retire two batters.
Spring Training is supposed to be where you work the kinks out and get into physical and mental conditioning for the regular season. Maine’s response to this “aberration”?
“My mechanics felt fine. I just wasn’t into it,” Maine told reporters. “The feeling that it wasn’t my game as a starter - that was the hardest thing… It’s a waste of a day… I was up, down, I can’t put my finger on exactly what was wrong. My delivery was fine. I was rushing a little. But that’s normal when you haven’t pitched in a while.”
Maine has had excuses before and to be honest, a few injury issues that made me anxious to ship him out over the past two years. When that Corey Hart deal with Milwaukee was being discussed, I have to admit I got giddy. It’s my contention that he needed to be moved while he still had some value, after very surprising 2007 and 2008 seasons. On August 4, 2008, Maine was put on the disabled list with a strained rotator cuff, then had shoulder surgery to remove a bone spur, then in 2009, he dealt with arm fatigue and multiple setbacks that limited our rotation. He went more than 5 innings once that year.
Pelfrey is growing up and recognizes the need to solidify secondary pitches instead of being the guy that threw fastballs 80% of the time on the mound. Astounding stat! Ollie is learning how to trust his stuff and be the pitcher we think he can be. Maine? Well, let’s hope he stays healthy. I just didn’t know that we had more than one headcase in the rotation. He just wasn’t into pitching that day. Really, John? Really?
About the Author: Former Writers
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I think your taking advantage of a major league baseball player poorly wording an answer to push your own agenda.
Your article suggests that a major league baseball player admitted pubically to a journalist that he just didn’t feel like doing his job so therefore he wasn’t going to care about his performance. I’m more concerned with bloggers taking playing the “gotcha game” and then posting articles such as the above.
Does the author of the above article really think John Maine just doesn’t care and has a poor work ethic?
Or is the using and taking advantage of a poorly worded statement by a professional athlete to give himself a provotive, easy article to write.
Is the author of this article so hurting for material that he has to stoop to the floor in search of scraps of waste to base an article on?
This blog NEEDS editorial supervision! Such lazy, uninspired and manipulative writing as the above article is offensive!
For myself one more article like the above and I am not ever going to read tis site again.
You are so out of line.
How do you know that Maine poorly worded his comments has he said he was misunderstood? Has he said that his statements were worded poorly?
Push your own agenda? What is that that “YU Already Know” possibly is just not a fan of Maine and Maine’s above quotes doesn’t make “YU Already Know” more of a fan?
So what if that is what it is?
Is “YU Already Know” not allowed to say he/she is not a Maine fan? Does he/she not being a fan of Maine (if that is the case) mean he/she needs supervision?
Maine may like you said be the victim of “a poorly worded comment” is that is the case I am sure we will soon hear about it but this notion that now we take any quotes from a player that is considered negative as “poorly worded” is a joke.
Agenda? are you serious? M.M.O. is a great site that has become so because of their authors. I am offended you would attack “YU Already Know” with such a comment.
Wow, what an overreaction! Are you kidding me with this comment? I drew the same exact conclusion as the writer, does that mean I have an agenda? Maine has been making nonchalant comments like this before. He talks down to reporters when they ask a tough question which is fine if youre Johan or Halladay, but Maine is a nobody. he’s never even pitched 200 innings in his life because he’s always got some nagging injury. His coments yesterday were his words, he was not misquoted. I commend this author for expressing his opinion and that of many other diehard Mets fans!
“…Maine is a nobody. he’s never even pitched 200 innings in his life …”
John Maine is not a ‘nobody’, regardless of his last performance and a comments that some of us Mets fans thought were just bad excuses. Easy now, let’s save our strength for the long season ahead.
Thanks, Kramer. I am not sure what some of our readers are thinking about. I can’t say that Maine was misquoted but I can unequivocably that he is “misquoted” a lot over the years because this reaction has become “common” with him specifically. I don’t claim to know why but it just seems to be the case. I’m like you, brother, I thought sharing our opinions is what blogs are all about. Any time I can have decent, intelligent convos with our beloved Mets fans, I welcome it. Please keep it coming. Thanks.
You consider my writing lazy and uninspired? You have the right to your own opinions no matter how misguided. I’m not the typical blogger. My previous posts prove that so don’t live in the world of ignorance. Go read those and if you’re honest, you will see this to be so. I am an actual Mets fan, not some poser so I have been “monitoring” my beloved team and this situation that I highlighted is not a new occurrence and that’s why it caused me some concern. Whether he was misquoted or not is besides the point. The actual concern, which I suggest you re-read, is his demeanor and how it translates into his performances on the mound. I’m not picking on Maine but there seems to be a pattern. To answer your question about the author? No, he doesn’t think Maine doesn’t care but he doesn’t know Maine personally like you do so he’s not sure. The author hopes this is not true because his arm is needed for this rotation to be successful. It was nice having you read our posts. Your detailed insight is refreshing.
Yu, I don’t mean to pile on; but selecting the phraeology u did certainly doesn’t bode well for fair & balanced. In one of the immediate articles I read(unremembered source) i distinctly came away with the impression Maine had diffuiculty timing his being ready with his being called on, a notion I truly hope finally puts to rest this idea many flaunt re. Maine as a setup or general bullpen guy. This is ST! few NYY fans are on the ledge over CC’s cutrrent 8+ spring ERA & rightfully so. Unfortunatly Maine isn’t a very astute individual when it comes to choosing the proper phraseology for interviews. How many times did he sound dispondent in past unsuccessful ooutings? As someone who lives in the shadow of his college alma-mater Charlotte,NC, I’ll tell u for certain he likely got no press handling experience during his college career. living in Virginia certainly didn’t expose him to the critiques that are part & parcel to the NY baseball scene erither.
it’s unfortunate; but u seem to have left out the most important aspect of his failed outing IT WAS NOT SHOULDER RELATED!
Other than his health the next most important issue to me is thankfully he;ll never have to come out of the pen in the immediate future. As a SP he can take whatever time he needs for prep alleviating the not ready issue.
Isn’t it bad enough we’ll be treating the next 6 mos as 162 seasons, that we must parse every sentence & every emotion fit or not fit to print/report? When choosing a pitcher, one of the major qualifications shouldn’t be interview giving, we have a GM for that(LMAO)
Maybe every Met affiliated person shouild be required to carry an I-Phone to use as an emergency teleprompter.(still laughing)
I guess since I am the author, I need to ensure that my thoughts are being properly and accurately displayed so the comments are fair in prospective. Again, thanks for the comments, guys. I don’t mind when the thoughts and opinions from our readers come. Actually, I appreciate it. The places where I was being insulted don’t detract me from my efforts to do a great job here. Nobody’s perfect. I had no plan to prognosticate or predict what will happen in the course of a given season. My thoughts about the Maine/Hart proposed trade was that I felt we should OVERALL the Mets should consider getting new blood (not associated with past failed seasons) into the organization. Bash me if you will but my thoughts are still the same on that. I didn’t leave out the reason Maine was ineffective on the last outing. I just didn’t think it was relevant to the actual overall thought. I am fine with Maine, Pelf, and Ollie getting ONE MORE TRY at doing this right. Please read my previous posts and you will see this confirmed. My previous posts also discuss the need to keep ST in perspective and play for October and not April. I would ask that all readers who read my posts judge me for the body of work and not a few comments they misunderstood. I touted the Maine part of the Julio deal as huge and it panned out. He’s in the rotation and did fairly well. My post was ONLY designed to question whether we have a pattern of behavior that we should be concerned about or not. Seriously, thank you for your comments though. I do appreciate them.
Headcases? I think they just aren’t very good and injuries have taken away the strengths they had (Maine and Perez).
Obviously, there’s another need for clarification about, in this case, the term “headcase”. Where I come from, it’s pretty clear what that means. In this case of the players, when a pitcher balks constantly and walks home runs and advances runners back to back in one inning, is that not a mental “hiccup”? How about when a pitcher gets hammered in one inning and can’t recover, even on a brand new day facing a new team? Is that not something in the pitcher’s head? Or a pitcher that drops his head after giving up three runs in one inning and then totally forgets his throwing motions, mechanics, and slumps on the mound, almost looking depressed? I’m not saying these guys are mental because I don’t know them in that way. However, the entire organization (on record) feel that there is some lack of mental toughness that is the cause and even the players themselves when asked spot on about their woes the last couple of years and how they can improve admitted the same. “They have to get tougher mentally as a team.” D-Wright, Jerry Manuel, Omar, Frenchy, Johan, and a few others have all stated the same. So no offense to anyone here, just saying that mental toughness is key….if they don’t correct it, we may have a huge challenge as a team.
Ha, probably the most straightforward, clear-headed statement about the Mets rotation I’ve read in two years!
Sometimes the truth hurts, brother.
Big Maine fan here, but that comment really annoyed me. If you didn’t feel like pitching stay home! Millions of people bust their ass day in and day out for pennies where as Maine makes millions for playing a game. I hope his words were taken out of content because if so he sums up the problem with the Mets the last few years
Good article but it leaves me wondering about your claim, YU:
“When that Corey Hart deal with Milwaukee was being discussed, I have to admit I got giddy. It’s my contention that he needed to be moved while he still had some value, after very surprising 2007 and 2008 seasons.”
Why did YU think John would no longer have value? Are YU doing some data mining? Seems like that might be the case. After the 2007-2008 seasons, Maine had a combined 25-18 record with an ERA of about 4.00, so were YU really a peerless prognosticator who mysteriously knew the future would not reflect the past?
YU, your best writing is when you show uncanny insight, not when you claim to use a crystal ball, but are looking in the rear view mirror. Even I could do that!
I definitely want to do my best writing at all times so thanks for the “critique”. However, I’m not a prophet but I am a knowledgeable baseball fan. Any GM worth the salt has to make projections and decide if it’s time and prudent to trade a player while he still has value. Do you hold onto a TV set made in 1980 and try to put in on Ebay in 2010? Good luck, getting a hit on that. You try to move it at the prime time when you know you can get maximum value for it. I don’t like playing GM often because I don’t have full understanding of the complexities of the job. I’m not sure what you think I am doing here (whatever data mining means) but I only intended to ask the question if we have a potential problem with Maine. Most knowledgeable Mets fan can clearly see that there may be a pattern of behavior here. While I never want to lose competent pitching where we have it, the Hart deal didn’t sicken me. It was worth IMO some consideration. Hart’s career numbers while with Milwaukee was a .273 BA, 500 hits, and 260 RBIs. It had value compared to what we had in the lineup. But Des, thank you, for sharing your thoughts. As usual, insightful.
Yu, thanks for the response. I’ve been around baseball — kid player, college player, coach, fan — for more years than I’d like to admit and, like everyone else, I’ve developed my own perspective.
I hope to read more articles from you, Yu.
Let’s hope the Mets give the rest of the league hell this year.
Hmmm… random bickering, that’s always nice… I guess.
Anyways, everyone has their days and u can’t blame the guy for not being comfortable and maybe he shouldn’t be used in between a game. These ball players have their own rituals and its only spring training. If he does this his first start then there will be issues but not now. I love how maine pitches and he has very good stuff, just hasn’t been healthy since the 07′ season. Let’s see how he does his next game and then go from their.
I don’t agree with the article but I’m not going to insult the writer. Blogs are for opinions and this is a great site. Regardless….
LET’S GO METS!!!!!!!
+1
+1 I agree no need to insult by suggesting some unscrupulous agenda. Just say why you don’t agree.
Lol, oh man, first of all, he was being honest, second of all, maine is a below average pitcher, due to his lack of a second pitch he only lasts 5 innings coz he reaches 100 pitches by then, now, I do agree wit YU already know that he can be our wild card, coz honestly, nobody is expecting him to win 10 games and he can get us 13 maybe 14, he’s a bulldog who’s gonna come after u and I love that about him, I’m not expecting much from him as I’m expecting from pelfrey but that’s what makes him a wild card, second of all, he’s a line I’m gonna show that proves none of this major leaguers r really into st:
Ben sheets
0 ip 8 hits 9 earned runs
Ppl, ben sheets might not say it, but st is mostly to work on mechanics, get loose, see the young kids, built velocity and get into baseball shape by working out, I’ve been call pessimist in this blog, so take it from me, relax, let’s see where we aat in the first month then we can start worrying, unless is perez, castillo and cora..
Alex
You’re the “voice of reason”. I’m disappointed in you.
Danny,
I’m alex68, a typical mets (somewhat disgruntled) fan just like u guys, I’m not the voice of reason, and I don’t know how to take ur comments anymore, since the other day u told me not to write back…
U shouldn’t be dissapointed in me, be dissapointed in minaya, castillo, perez, the mets.. but not me, I’m just a fan like u
I just want to clarify telling you not to write back. We had gone back and forth so many times on the Figgy issue that I wanted it to end. I got the last word, selfish on my part.
I hope you continue to voice your opinions loud and clear.
Danny,
Thanks for clarifying that, but hey, as a writer when u post ur comments ppl read it and comment on it, then as a blogger is ok to engaged in argument about who u like and don’t, as long as there’s no disrespect is fine, I’ll respect ur opinion as long as u respect mine.. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we disagree on a mets player or situation.. as long as at the end we agree on being mets fans and wanting the same thing.. a f’king championship!!!!!
Lgm!!!
Which has a better chance of happening in 2010:
John Maine winning pitching 180 inngs and winning 14 games
or
Daniel Murphy hitting 20 home runs and driving in 100 runs
Wow, that’s a tough one.. ummm, I’ll say murphy 20 hr’s but not 100 rbi’s.. he’ll be around 80-85.. maine will be ready
so when we get fully healthy, i’ll take john maine. if we can score runs, then yes, maine get get there first. honestly i think both can happen this year.
Meant to say maine if healthy can go 12 wins and 175 innings..
Reasonable ceiling, but a line like that from a starting pitcher is going to be really taxing on the bullpen!
ok try this one, which has a better chance of happening in 2010:
Daniel Murphy plying every day hitting .285 20 home runs 80 rbi’s
or
Mike Jacobs plying every day .235 25 home runs 90 rbis
I still see murphy having a good season, I think murphy will be around
275 17 80 42 doubles… solid defense at first..