The results of John Maine’s MRI have come in. And the winner is: a mild strain of his right rotator cuff. The Mets are emphasizing the ‘mild’ part of the diagnosis. But anytime the rotator cuff is mentioned that can’t be good. The Mets have an off day tomorrow and another one on Monday, so if Maine skips a turn in the rotation they don’t need to find another starter. They wouldn’t need Maine to pitch until a week from Saturday against Florida, so they should be very cautious with him and don’t need to rush him back. Maine’s already had a self-diagnosed dead arm and had to come out of a game because of a cramp in his left arm, and now he has a rotator cuff issue. The Mets are just crossing their fingers that his arms just don’t fall off. If the Mets don’t go the Ryan Church route and actually make sure he’s 100% before his next start, they could put him on the 15-day DL and the team would only need a replacement starter for one game.

As for Pedro Martinez, he’s back from his father’s funeral in the Dominican Republic. He threw a 25-pitch bullpen session before yesterday’s game and pronounced himself ready to go. He’s scheduled to pitch this Friday against Houston. The team is going to limit him to 80 pitches, though. He hasn’t pitched in a game since July 12^th, and is coming off of shoulder stiffness and a sore groin. He had a cortisone shot a few weeks ago to help alleviate the pain in his groin but hasn’t taken the mound in a game since then. At this point who knows what you’re going to get out of Pedro. He’s basically the team’s fifth starter now, so anytime you can get a quality start out of him (and just to be able to stay in the rotation), the Mets will take it.

Ryan Church took batting practice with the team yesterday and will do so again today. He’ll then start playing in rehab games, and he and the team will go from there. He hasn’t played since July 5^th, but says he is feeling great. If he comes back and has to be taken out again, the Mets should just shut him down for the season.

With the trade deadline only one day away, the Mets won’t know the status of any of these players by then. Regardless of what happens to Church, they may come up with a corner outfielder anyway, but the choices are getting slimmer now that Xavier Nady and Casey Blake have been traded. The Mets weren’t in the market for a starting pitcher, but in another week or so they may find out that they need one.