John Maine
From The Met Wiki
| Age: 27 (born May 8, 1981) |
| Position: Starting Pitcher |
| Bats: Right Throws: Right |
| Number: 33 |
| Acquired: With Jorge Julio for Kris Benson |
| Contract: 1 year, $2.6m |
Shortly after joining the Mets as something of a throw-in in the Kris Benson trade, John Maine put together a stretch where he went 19-7 with a 3.03 ERA, including stellar postseason performances filling in for the injured Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez.
However, since then he's been horrendous. For whatever reasons, he doesn't attract the same negative reactions as Oliver Perez does, but as a 2008 MetsGeek post pointed out, they've been remarkably similar.
Among the 55 NL pitchers who threw at least 140 innings in 2008, Maine and Perez placed at the same extremes in various stats:
- Pitches per inning: Maine was 2nd worst (behind Ian Snell), Perez was 6th worse
- Pitchers per plate appearance: Maine was worst, Perez 5th worst
I can't find a walks per 9-inning leaderboard, but I found this -- Perez issued the most walks in the National League. Maine threw a lot fewer innings, but walked almost .5 men per inning, which would put him among the 10 worst in the league.
On the plus side:
- Strikeouts per nine innings: Perez was 8th best, Maine 15th
- Batting Average against: Perez 8th best, Maine 9th
In October of 2008, he required shoulder surgery for a bone spur, but unfortunately the removal has not improved his pitching.
[edit] Personal
Maine is known to be an avid golfer and crossword puzzle enthusiast, but also enjoys bowling left handed and playing video games with David Wright.
