The Mets Give the Injured Maine 15 Days to Rest

The Mets Give the Injured Maine 15 Days to Rest
By BILL FINLEY
Published: August 25, 2008

The Mets officially shut down John Maine on Monday, placing him on the 15-day disabled list. But they have not given up hope that he will pitch again this season.
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Maine, who has a bone spur in his right shoulder, was replaced on the active roster by infielder Luis Castillo.

Despite the bone spur and his own admission that he was not 100 percent, Maine had been scheduled to pitch Friday against the Marlins in Florida. Instead, Mets management decided to give Maine some time off. Their hope is that rest will help heal the shoulder problem, which will require off-season surgery.

“We felt it was in the team’s and John’s best interest to put him on the disabled list,” Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said before Monday night’s game against the Astros. “We’ll give him some rest and, hopefully, after two weeks’ rest, the pain he has been experiencing will go away. We felt this was the best move to do now. We’ll give him the rest and see where he is when he finishes.”

Maine said that he could have pitched through the pain, but worried that he would have been ineffective. He last pitched Saturday, giving up eight runs in five and two-thirds innings in an 8-3 loss to the Astros. Maine is 10-8 with a 4.18 earned run average this season.

“It’s frustrating because I want to be here and I want to help the team,” Maine said. “But me not being able to be 100 percent out there is hurting the team a little bit. It’s nothing really that serious. It’s just a pain back there that is not going away.”

Minaya said there were also concerns that the injury could linger if Maine remained in the rotation.

“The bottom line is we just cannot risk his long-term health just because we’re in a pennant race,” Minaya said. “It would be easy for us to tell him to keep on going out there and pitch. It would be just too much of a risk to risk his career.”

With the Mets having a day off on Thursday, there was no immediate need for a replacement for Maine. Manager Jerry Manuel said that he would not need to add someone to the rotation until Sept. 2. Oliver Pérez will pitch Friday. Neither Manuel nor Minaya would say who would take Maine’s spot in the rotation, but the two likeliest candidates were the minor leaguers Jon Niese and Bobby Parnell. Maine’s injury also means that the Mets will scrap plans to have Mike Pelfrey skip a turn in the rotation, Manuel said.

“Are they John Maine?” Minaya said of Niese and Parnell. “John Maine is proven and you want to have proven guys going down the stretch.”

Niese, among the more highly regarded players in the Mets’ farm system, is 11-8 with a 3.18 E.R.A. this season between Class AA Binghamton and Class AAA New Orleans. Parnell is 11-8 with a 4.60 E.R.A. between Binghamton and New Orleans.

Castillo was placed on the 15-day D.L. July 3 with a strained left hip flexor. After completing a 13-game minor league rehabilitation stint, he was activated before Monday’s game and inserted into the starting lineup. He batted second.

With Castillo in the midst of a disappointing season, he probably will have to produce in the few weeks to stay in the starting lineup. Argenis Reyes and Damion Easley split playing time at second while Castillo was out.

“We’ll watch him play and watch him perform and see at what level the team is playing at with him performing and see where we are,” Manuel said. “Hopefully, he gives us that .295, a great on-base percentage and plays a good second base. That could pick us up a little bit.”





http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/sports/baseball/26shea.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin