One of the more interesting story lines from last Spring came from Nelson Figueroa, who was a Met going into training, pitched really hard, and then didn't make the Major League roster. It was crushing, in some way, or as crushing as it could be (I'm trying to not be too melodramatic here), as he was released at the end of Spring from a team that he grew up rooting for and a city that liked him. He was then picked up by the Phillies, and he had a major chip on his shoulder when it came to the Mets. He was ready to go against us, however it didn't translate too well on the field. In 14 innings against the Mets last season, he allowed 7 R, 5 earned. So in earned runs he had an ERA above 3, which is good, but wasn't as dominating as he was hoping. He struggled overall with the Phillies and then eventually ended up on the Astros.
Well it looks like another Mets pitcher may fall in the same pattern. According to Adam Rubin, it looks like John Maine to the Phillies make sense. Maine is still a free agent, and I guess teams looking for starters are starting to dwindle.
So if Maine goes to the Phillies, it probably won't sting at all like Figueroa, however, it will be interesting to see if he makes the Major League team (which I doubt unless he is in the pen), it will be interesting to see the media hype.
