Mets counting on Maine, Perez to stabilize rotation

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- You can't talk about the 2007 New York Mets without talking first about the Mets' rotation. And that conversation, invariably, is going to include a lot of wincing, a few furrowed brows, at least a couple healthy shoulder shrugs and a random head shake or two.

The Mets have a lot going for them. One heck of an everyday lineup, for instance. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado. Jose Reyes and David Wright. Moises Alou and Paul Lo Duca. The bullpen, too, backed by Billy Wagner, is mighty impressive. The defense, certainly, is good enough and then some.

But that rotation is an absolute conversation choker, a huge honking worry wart on Mr. Met's bulbous schnozz. It's a potential season-killer. There's no smoothing it over, either, no powdering it up.

Of course, the Mets will try to spin it, anyway, because that's what they're supposed to do. They'll spin the seams off it. Some Mets players will tell you that, if things break just right, the rotation could actually be a strongpoint of the '07 Mets.

Ahhh. Springtime in Florida. Where optimism is as thick as lovebugs on the interstate in April.

"Something that was really good for us last year, really positive, is that we had to use so many young guys," says the closer Wagner, "and they went out in the biggest games of the year, and they dealt it. They dealt it."

It's true that, last year, the Mets were forced to dip into the pitching pool to pull out anybody with a working shoulder joint, especially after ace Pedro Martinez went down for good. The Mets used an astonishing 13 starting pitchers in '06, from Tom Glavine (who made a team-best 32 starts) to guys like Geremi Gonzalez and (yikes!) Jose Lima. Somehow -- maybe that lineup and bullpen, eh? -- they still managed to win 97 games.

Wagner isn't talking about Gonzalez and Lima, though, when he mentions the young postseason dealers. He's talking, specifically, about Oliver Perez and John Maine, two pitchers who are, for now, smack in the middle of the Mets' rotational hot seat for '07. Those two, maybe more than sluggers Carlos and Carlos, ultimately will determine how far the Mets go this season.

The two of them got a taste of what is expected of them in their New York baptism last year. The lefty Perez, 25, was obtained in a midseason trade with the Pirates. He made seven starts for the Mets in '06 (he had a 6.38 ERA), then two more in the postseason. Maine, who turns 26 in May, started 15 games with a 3.60 ERA, then started three more postseason games.

If you look at the postseason statistics just right, you can see why the Mets are cautiously optimistic about Perez and Maine. Perez, a regular starter in Pittsburgh before his trade, had two starts for the Mets in the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and went 1-0 with a 4.63 ERA. Maine, a righty, made three postseason starts. He was 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA, giving up 10 hits in 13 2/3 innings. Pitching decently in the postseason pressure cooker of New York has to count for something, they figure.

"I think last year was a great learning experience for a lot of us. I feel like I packed a lot into that year," says Maine, who has clearly been sniffing the optimism of spring camp. "I think we're in better shape this year than we were last year at this time."