Prior to Sunday’s game, Jerry Manuel told reporters that, while John Maine is tentatively schedule to make his next start, Maine could be shut down for the remainder of the season if the team does not like what it sees in his throwing session later this week.
According to Manuel, either way, Maine will need off-season surgery to repair a bone spur in his shoulder.
In an exclusive report for Newsday, David Lennon quotes Maine as saying he had a cortisone shot on Thursday, but it did little to relieve the pain.
…and that’s the thing, from what i understand, the pain is not going any place…and so, since the bone spur will not get worse from pitching, it’s a matter of pain and effectiveness…
…if maine is in pain, but is effective, my bet is he will take the ball until he can’t…however, if he’s totally ineffective, whether in pain or not, the Mets will have little choice but to shut him down – at which point he can get a jump on recovering from what is an inevitable surgery…
…also, from what i can gather, if maine is skipped in the rotation, his start will likely go to Brian Stokes, not Jon Niese, which is the smart move considering that niese will require the team to make a roster move…
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yea, I keep seeing Maine around my area and I can’t think of what to say to him since “nice job yesterday” has rarely been the case for him…
i’m kind of hoping he shuts it down, no need to injure a young pitcher for us for a long time..
Stokes is a nice addition to the pen, along with Ayala. I prefer Stokes in short appearances.
I think his fast ball is too flat to be an effective starter.
Yea i think he needs to take the rest of the yr off, get his surgery and rest the offseason so he can pitch the way he is supposed to next yr..Stokes has been pretty good so give him a shot
Stokes is fine as the long man. Its Niese time.
stokes will stink as a starter
I agree, shut it down, get healthy for next year, you are not doing yourself of the team any good in this condition.
also would mean no other corresponding roster move needed for Al Reyes…
Roster move is easy — El Duque to 60 day DL oepns slot on 40 man, Maine to 15 day dl opens spot on 25 man roster. But I think they don’t want to rely on Niese in a pennant race, given how many innings he’s thrown and that he’s close to the limit for innings.
The aren’t bringing Reyes up until Sept.1 and they can use him in postseason because htye’ll have at least 4 guys on 15 day DL to sub out.
roster moves should be to release El Duque and Matt wise from the 40 men roster and that frees up two spots in which you can put Jon Niese and another player onto the 40 men. omar better remember to put some of the mets prospects on the 40 men roster the end of this year to avoid chances of losing someone that might help this team next year to the rule 5 draft.
That would make Al Reyes ineligable for the postseason roster. I doubt they wait until Sept 1st to bring him up.
I’m still really concerned that Pelfrey is going to hit that “wall” due to innings pitched, even though he went nine last time. The starting rotation has been the strength this year, and would be decimated with no Maine or Pelf.
I agree, I’m also concerned Pelfrey is going to over tax his arm which is why I was hoping they’d consider moving him to the bullpen, but now that seems impossible.
If you are worried about Pelf you should be doubly (ie?) worried about Niese who has already thrown 27 more innings than last year while Pelf is just now exceeding last year.
Niese making more than two more starts is highly unlikely.
I think we have to let BIg Pelf dictate how far he can go. I don’t want to blow out his arm, but man, this is the wrong time to move him to a once a week schedule (as has been suggested). Why couldn’t they have done that in July or something? This was bad planning.
I handle Workers Comp issues for employers and we see a lot of this medical condition in people who do overhead work. It sounds like an acromion issue. Its a small bone in the shoulder that looks like a hook. When the rotator cuff is inflamed it catches on this hook with movement and causes pain. It can subside naturally as the swelling goes down but the best way to prevent recurrence is to shave the bone. Its a quick recovery from the surgery and he’ll be fine. The problem is, repeated swelling and catching on the bone can eventually cause fraying of the labrum. Don’t want that.
thanks for the analysis!
This is why when they say that he cant do anymore damage to it I just roll my eyes. Of course his labrum could get damaged…
Exactly, think about it. It causes him pain to raise his arm above his head and throw. So to avoid this he drops his arm angle to reduce pain. Not only may this be lowering his velo and control, but will put more pressure on his elbow. Bad news. Shut him down.
I wonder when the injury really started to occur? Maine has had problems most of the year finding that “out” pitch and that has caused him to not last too long in his starts. I can only imagine the shoulder injury exacerbates the issue. Let’s face it, we can’t afford starters to only go into the 6th inning with the way the bullpen has performed.
However, I’m wondering if the league caught up to his stuff or has his arm/shoulder problems caused him to use a different throwing style that prevents him from putting enough movement on his fastball?
Philly has a couple of starters where more often than not they’re only going around 6 innings. They’ve been riding their BP pretty hard the entire year and last night’s game showed that their middle relief isn’t a lock, the Dodgers did them plenty of favors with their inept situational hitting.
Really Maine has been struggling stemming back to last year. I think it has to do partially with the league catching up with his stuff and partially with not having an out pitch causing him to throw so many pitches a game.
I think he has been hurt the majority of the year but toughed it out as long as he could. Its Niese time, lets see what we have in this kid for next year when we need to make a tough call on Ollie.
The pain in Maine remains mostly the same.
Well done!
“By George, I think he’s got it!”
Although I would’ve gone with “the pain in Maine remains mostly in the game.” But still, that was good.
I actually think that since Maine had been effective in his first two outings since returning from the DL, that he should pitch until he can’t. He can still be effective, and considering that he got some of his velocity back yesterday (though not all of it), I think he is better than the alternatives. Stokes is fine, sure. And maybe the other guys filling roster spots in the minors would be fine as well, but I’ll take my chances with Maine until he just can’t throw anymore. If he can’t do anymore damage to his shoulder, then let him throw.
I don’t like this “all the experts say he can’t do further damage” type of talk. People try to compensate for pain by altering, thus as much as he tries not too, the bone spur may result in Maine altering his delivery and hurting himself in some other way….SHUT IT DOWN!
EXCELLENT point….Dizzy Dean hurt his toe and ruined his arm with the resulting altered delivery…this has been true forever.
This is why have been saying they will be watching Maine’s armslot. That has to stay correct. Still the ligaments and tendon can catch and rub on the bone spur even if he is enduring the pain, and thats just asking for a bigger injury, imo.
I agree, that’s how Pedro hurt his shoulder, or whatever it was he hurt I’ve lost track, in 06. He injured his hip and started overcompensating because of the pain, and then bam a minor hip injury turns into missing a year of baseball.
Yeah, that was a torn calf. Then he came back and tore his other calf and messed up his shoulder.
Ugh like I said I’ve lost track, I knew it had something to do with his lower half. The point is it led to missing a year of baseball.
I had the same injury that Maine has from football about 5 years ago. Each time his shoulder gets knocked around, if it surbluxiates or dislocates, the bone spur could slice away at his ligaments. I played an entire year of varsity basketball in the shape Maine is now. He can certainly make it until the end of the year but the pain will not subside until he has surgery and rehabs. I think he should pitch through the rest of the year and get the surgery right after the Mets win the World Series
i think the mets should shut down Maine for the year if he continues to struggle in his next start. maine needs to start using his head more than relaying on his stuff to get hitters out and that might help reduce his pitches. I am somewhat disappointed in maine’s progress for this year. maine seems to be injury prone a lot especially with things like the right hip, the middle finger, and now the shoulder. i do not know if the league has caught up with him or not, but he still dominates the Phillies.
tonight is a game the mets have to win. they cannot let a team like the Astros take three straight at home. Let’s go Mets!!! C’mon Big Pelf!!
I feel bad for john but for the interest of having a healthy pitcher for next season i think we should shut him down. Anyone know how figz and toe-knee are doing in the minors as Duque is probably finished.
Please, no Tony Armas. I’d rather have Brian Lawrence.
Have him make his next start. When Sept 1 comes, shut him down, make him get surgery, and use Niese in the rotation.
My concern is not whether or not Maine can pitch through the pain, but rather whether any adjustments he makes to compensate for that pain will lead to a more significant injury.
Truth be told, many arm injuries start out as back or leg injuries. Pitcher’s try to pitch through them and alter their motion to compensate and then mess up their shoulder.
This happened with Pedro’s calf injury. He alter his motion to compensate and then tore up his shoulder.
The doctors say that Maine can pitch and won’t add any damage to the shoulder, but what if Maine alters his motion. he could really hurt his shoulder. Maine is gutsy and I love that about him. Sometimes he’s too gutsy for his own good. He’s go out there and pitch until his arm fell off. I really believe that, but is that the best move for this team long-term?
It’s a tough call. If Maine pitches like he has lately, then it’s a no brainer. You shut him down. He’s not helping us anyway. This would pave the way for someone like Niese to get a shot. The kid keeps proving people wrong and since this his his first time through the NL then he might have success until hitters catch up to him.
Since the Mets already plan on using Stokes as a starter to limit Pelfrey’s workload I think they should look into using Maine, Pelfrey, and Stokes to fill two rotation spots in late Sept.
The Mets have 3 off days close together in early Sept and should avoid Maine for a while. Maybe even DL him for 15 days so he cant be used…
They should also take regular MRI’s of Maine’s situation to make sure it isnt getting any worse. And if it gets the slightest bit worse they need to forget about him for this year.
15 day Dl is irrelavent for Maine. Other than clearing a spot for 15 days to bring somebody up. There is no point in skipping a start for Maine. It’s either pitch through it or get the surgery now. If he can’t execute his pitches he needs to shut it down. Hopefully that is not the case because I do not want to see Neise get thrusted into the majors too early like Pelfrey and Kunz did.
Does anyone know what the recovery time is for the surgery or other potential relief for Maine? They can’t piddle around here like the first go-round of Church’s injury. The last thing we need is Maine to be out all next season because of severe damage. Any chance he can have the surgery like…tomorrow, and potentially be back in (no jinx) late playoff rounds, or is it a many months-like recovery?
DL Maine after September 1 and call up Neise… that way Neise will be eligible for the postseason roster, should the Mets make it…
everyone here is quick to be a DR. They should move him to the bullpen and limit his use.
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