Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » John Maine

Why a Yankee Won’t Win MVP, Replay on Cervelli’s HR, Warthen’s Legacy of Failure, Val Pascucci Chant

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

We can debate the merits of Curtis Granderson or Robinson Cano when it comes to the American League MVP award, but no Yankees player will win it. Why? It has nothing to do with Jose Bautista‘s stats or the fact that three Red Sox are having MVP-caliber years. Its institutional bias against the Yankees by the baseball writers. Take this […]

DL on the DL: Keep the Exiles Away

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

As I started my car and merged with the happy traffic leaving Citi Field on SUN, the Mets had just put a bow on a 4-2 home stand. The 6-0 win brought them to a 17-6 record for the month and completes a 13-5 Interleague schedule. As we discussed a month ago, June represented a […]

Does Maine Have Trade Value?

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Jerry Manuel is rightfully questioning the value of John Maine returning to the rotation. For a team with playoff aspirations Maine has zero value working with an 88 mph fastball. His lack of command and dubious secondary pitches makes me believe he is a 4-A pitcher for the foreseeable future. There will come a time […]

Maine Effective in Rehab Start

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. – Mets righty John Maine, who was placed on the disabled list May 21 with right shoulder fatigue, started on his road back to Jerry Manuel’s rotation yesterday in Waterfront Park. Maine, who was pulled from his last start May 20 in Washington after facing a single batter, was 1-3, 6.13 over nine […]

Havens Sore Again

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. - Mets infield prospect Reese Havens was removed from Binghamton’s game with Trenton in the second inning last night. Havens, who is hitting .343 (23-for-67) in 17 games with the B-Mets, was benched as a precaution. “Reese had some soreness,’’ said Binghamton manager Tim Teufel.  “I took him out as a precaution. Let […]

DL on the DL: June Will Be Mets Proving Ground

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

As the Mets woke up in sunny San Diego to wrap up a month that saw them go 4-12 on the road so far, they have the look of a team that has mastered the art of winning ugly and losing pretty. At 26-26, the roller-coaster ride has seen the team take on a ‘damn […]

Mets Must Send Message With Ollie

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Recently I was told a former Mets player believed the club “didn’t take losing personally” and that was one of the problems with the team. He didn’t say they don’t care, but rather the “let’s get them tomorrow” mentality isn’t going to get them where they want to be. That statement is probably an indictment […]

A Simple Formula That Equals Success

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

The Mets continue to play the “Citi is Burning” on a nightly basis. The owner wants to be a GM, their best player insists to swing for the fences, the closer is an emotional roller coaster, and a former star turned the clubhouse into chaos. If you didn’t know any better I could be talking […]

Mets Must Rid Themselves of High Maintenance Acts

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Jerry Manuel has done a lot of wrong the last year and a half managing the Mets, but last night he sent a message to his ballclub with the removal of John Maine: mediocrity is not acceptable. This is a far cry from the rationalization about poor processes and talk of “competing” that we saw […]

37% Chance of Sports Illustrated Jinx

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Derek Jeter didn’t even know there was such a thing as the Sports Illustrated jinx, saying the “last time he was on the cover was before Game 6 of the World Series, so there is your jinx.” Well, what Jeter should know is that appearing on the famous sports magazine’s cover isn’t guaranteed to cause […]

NY Mets: DL on the DL

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

As the Mets closed up April will a stunning reversal of what was a 4-8 beginning with their 10-1 homestand and when they added a 9-1 thumping of the Phillies, the DL seemed to be a “divine light” that sent them Ike Davis for Daniel Murphy. Yet sometimes when you’re only focusing on the W’s, […]

John Maine: What’s Next?

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I was pleasantly surprised- shocked, really- at how effectively John Maine handled the Dodgers on Wednesday. The six-plus innings, two earned runs were one thing- Pat Misch, after all, threw a complete-game shutout last season- but what really astounded was the nine strikeouts. That’s obviously better than merely adequate. That’s enough to make John Maine […]

Livan Hernandez: Fact or Fiction?

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

This is Livan Hernandez’s line so far: W: 3 L: 1 ERA: 0.87 WHIP: 0.87 1 Shutout ERA+: 499 For the advance metric fans in the audience his FIP is 4.08 so I am guessing it’s only a matter of time before he comes back down to earth - right? Could it be possible that […]

Listen: Weekly Digest

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Howard joins me this morning at 10 AM for another edition of the Weekly Digest. We will talk about the A-Rod/Dallas Braden incident, as well as Mark Teixeira’s home plate collision. I think both are great examples of “intimidation and disrespect” that gives winning teams an edge. Hear our take on the early returns of […]

Next Steps With John Maine

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

I still don’t feel comfortable with John Maine. Yes, the results have been better against St. Louis and Atlanta (9 innings 4 runs), but he continues to hang around 88mph, topping out at 90, and throwing only 50% of his pitches for strikes. This is not a recipe for success and more importantly, I agree […]