He'll strike you out if he wants to...

[Guest AG/DC]

Just a remeinder of what our next starter did his last time out, with pretty much everything on the line.

http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=7393

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

check out that fancypants new design!

[Benjamin Grimm]

At the beginning of spring training, I read a little item in the Philadelphia Inquirer that said simply that "scouts are saying" that John Maine is about to become one of the best pitchers in the National League.

This was before his Grapefruit League successes this year.

And that got me thinking about revisiting our original reactions to the trade that brought Maine here from Baltimore. I checked in the archives, but didn't get around to posting the links. This thread reminded me of that intention.

As for me, at the time I saw Maine as a throw-in, a guy who'd be another Jason Middleton, or something like that, and mainly focused on the Benson for Julio aspect. I voted that I hated the deal. Needless to say, I feel quite a bit differently now.

Anyway, let's travel down Memory Lane to January of 2006...

• Benson for Julio and "The Duke" John Maine
  
• Non-clever poll on the Benson trade
  
• Being John Maine

[metirish]

That Saturday Maine was brilliant, that was the game Reyes got into a shouting match.

Like the new design on UMDB, very stream lined.

[Benjamin Grimm]

metirish wrote: Like the new design on UMDB, very stream lined.

Thanks. It was actually a very minor change (only took a few minutes) but it does give it a cleaner look.

[Guest AG/DC]

Makes me half wonder why Randolf didn't draw him for this series. Cool that we beat the same team in the same stadium by the same score last night. Would have been cooler if we did that in game 162 last season, of course.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He's the cat's vagina, just as I was saying back in 2005.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

The first half of last season, he was one of the top starters in the league.

Pre-All Star Break:
109.2 IP, 2.71 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 93 K, 40 BB, 10 HR

Some of that was helped by a low .214 BAA against, but still. He was top of the rotation quality. Maine just wore down. 190 innings after only throwing in the 140 range for most of him career beforehand, and that was with a nagging hip injury all year.

So it basically comes down to whether he'll become more durable as he enters his prime, or if he proves to be more fragile. My hopes are up.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

I spelled ridiculous with an "e" in that original Maine thread. I suck.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah. Wouldn't it be nice if Santana has a terrific year, and Maine does even better?

(It's April, when hopes are high.)

[Guest AG/DC]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: At the beginning of spring training, I read a little item in the Philadelphia Inquirer that said simply that "scouts are saying" that John Maine is about to become one of the best pitchers in the National League. This was before his Grapefruit League successes this year. And that got me thinking about revisiting our original reactions to the trade that brought Maine here from Baltimore. I checked in the archives, but didn't get around to posting the links. This thread reminded me of that intention. As for me, at the time I saw Maine as a throw-in, a guy who'd be another Jason Middleton, or something like that, and mainly focused on the Benson for Julio aspect. I voted that I hated the deal. Needless to say, I feel quite a bit differently now. Anyway, let's travel down Memory Lane to January of 2006... Benson for Julio and "The Duke" John Maine Non-clever poll on the Benson trade Being John Maine

Was there a tracker thread on ths trade?

I recall (perhaps incorrectly) Bret declaring all consideration of this trade over, and (again, I could be wrong) Lunchbucket speculating "...unless Maine was the one they wanted all along." I don't think it went well, but it's worth a review if such statements exist.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I did look for that, because I remembered it too, but I didn't find it in January 2006. Maybe it came up subsequently?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

]I recall (perhaps incorrectly) Bret declaring all consideration of this trade over, and (again, I could be wrong) Lunchbucket speclating "...unless Maine was the one they wanted all along." I don't think it went well, but it's worth a review if such statements exist.

I recall that too, and that remark being met with a response amounting to an accusation that I wouldn't stop bending over backwards to justify the trade, etc etc. Almost all my memories of this trade are tangled in that toxic dog c stuff.

That said, his poll question suggestions were funny and could have been cutting were his sights more accurate.

[Guest AG/DC]

No geniuses here.

http://www.getalifealready.com/cpf/archives/2200/f1_t2222.shtml

That was a painful re-read.

[Guest holychicken]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Benson for Julio and "The Duke" John Maine Non-clever poll on the Benson trade Being John Maine

I was one of the people to post in favor of it in each of those polls.

Luckily, I said nothing. . . .SO GOOD LOOK PROVING ME WRONG.

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

But, honestly, I have no idea what I thought of it back then. I remember not having an particular like for benson. . .but with my memory even that could be wrong.

[Valadius]

I remember I wasn't in favor of the trade because all I'd seen out of Maine back then was middle relief. Little did I know.

[Guest attgig]

I like this prediction:

]Yancy Street Gang Jan 23 2006 02:16 PM We should also remember that hating a trade is different from hating a person. I wouldn't vote that I hated Jorge Julio, unless he does something truly hateful, which I don't anticipate. I think hate is a word that should be using very sparingly when applied to people, but in other contexts I don't really see anything wrong with it. I hate lima beans. I hate freezing rain. I hated that awful Lisa Kudrow show on HBO. And I hate this deal with the Orioles. Here's one for the prediction archives: Jorge Julio will be the next Mel Rojas. But even if that happens, I won't hate him. And I'm hoping that a few years from now, when John Maine has won a Cy Young and a World Series MVP award for the Mets, I'll look back and love this trade. But right now I'm thinking that John Maine will be John Mitchell and Julio will be Rojas. And that's why I voted hate.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Wow! Makes me seem both smart and stupid at the same time.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Edgy - "Was there a tracker thread on ths trade?"

Yes, I believe the Benson for Julio & Maine trade was the one that I kept track of that year.

[Gwreck]

Waitasecond, going back to that UMDB page, how exactly did Oliver Perez get Schaefer points that game?

[DocTee]

Shouldn't MBTN be among the "great baseball books recommended by Amazon.com" on the UMDB?

[Guest AG/DC]

Good question. I'd invite people to go find the original thread, but I fear to my core that the creative voting was mine.

[Gwreck]

Took a little while to find it but no worries Edgy, you're not guilty.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Gwreck wrote: Waitasecond, going back to that UMDB page, how exactly did Oliver Perez get Schaefer points that game?

Good eye!

Here's the thread:

http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=7527

It was DocTee who gave Oliver Perez 0.2 points for that game.

I'll dip into the database and remove the 0.02 that Perez netted.

[DocTee]

I must've been drunk-- maybe I meant Muniz?