The Mets' young starter John Maine continues to impress. With tonight's (May 4) win, he moved to 5-0, 1.37 ERA on the year. Unlike Marquis, it looks to me like Maine is closer to the real deal. Will he continue to have an ERA in the 1's? No way ... that's superhuman. But he looks like a good bet to win 15-20 games with the powerful Mets' lineup behind him, with a final ERA of maybe 3.50. That's still plenty good. The Mets could conceivably go into the playoffs with a front 3 rotation of Glavine, Pedro Martinez (we'll see), and John Maine, with El Duque in the picture as well.
How did the Mets get such an accomplished young pitcher? Maine, a former 6th-round pick, was just a young face in the Baltimore Orioles organization back in January 2006, when the Mets traded pitcher Kris Benson (the former 1st overall pick from 1996) to Baltimore for Maine and pitcher Jorge Julio. At the time, the headline was 'Orioles bolster rotation with Benson'. But less than a year-and-a-half later, Maine looks like the real prize in that trade. What a trade! Everyone else is currently hurt:
In May 2006, Julio was flipped for El Duque, Orlando Hernandez. Julio is currently on the DL with the Marlins after pitching horribly to begin 2007, while Benson rides the 60-day DL with the Orioles, having had surgery to repair his rotator cuff, and we probably won't see him until 2008. And El Duque is trying to battle back through shoulder bursitis. Meanwhile, the Mets have a young winner in Maine.
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I agree, John Maine has really come around. He also has the best start in Mets history. If the Mets are as smart as I think they are we'll have Maine for a long time.
ShadyProof
Paramus , NJ
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