It’s over John! For the love of Christ, what the fuck is this guy doing in the starting rotation? As far as I’m concerned, the John Maine experiment is over, let’s move on or this will get uglier.
Since coming over from Baltimore four years ago, we’ve only seen one good year from Maine, and that year wasn’t even that great other than his 180 strikeouts and 15 wins. That was in 2007, pre-surgeries.
And for those John Maine lovers who say it’s only two games, it’s not only two games. It’s been about two months including Spring Training where this guy has performed like shit, has no fastball anymore, can’t throw strikes, and just looks like a deer in headlights out there.
We need guys that mean business out there, and he does not. At this point, put him in middle relief, send him down to the minors, or just fucking release him. We can not go a full season with him, Perez, and Pelfrey. And since Perez isn’t going anywhere with his hefty payday and Pelfrey has more upside, Maine needs to be the odd man out.
And don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Thanks for nothing.
“I couldn’t get ahead of guys,” he said. “I couldn’t get that fastball in there. I thought it was coming out good, it was command. The two worst pitches were the two home runs, I really missed my spots. I missed up with it. It was fastball location, I couldn’t get strike one in there.”
I don’t understand these pitchers who work from behind in the count. Pitching 101 is to get ahead in the count. When you pitch from behind, it’s a matter of time before you self destruct, and opposing batters will pounce. This is little league banter.
“When you’re working behind in counts and you have to throw that fastball, these hitters are going to be jumping all over it,” catcher Rod Barajas said. “It’s hard to get these guys out when the counts are 2-0, 3-1. You want to work ahead. You want to be able to get ahead of the count and make these guys hit your pitch, and right now that’s just not happening with John.”
We don’t need Maine. Let’s give this guy Hisanori Takahashi a shot, or stretch out Mejia and give him the ball. Fernando Nieve and Pat Misch are options too, but please no. Or it’s never too late to make a trade for a starter.
I’ve been reading things about who the number two pitcher should’ve been, John Lackey. Yes, that would be fantastic. But let’s get something straight here before we attack Omar on that one. John Lackey was not going to come to the Mets and had no desire to do so. Should he have done more to upgrade the starting rotation, abso-fucking-lutely!
Mets‘ Maine problem: He’s just not a No. 2 starter [NY Post]
