JUPITER, Fla. – John Maine couldn’t agree on his salary with the Mets this year, so they decided it for him yesterday.
A 15-win season last season resulted in a mere $59,000 raise to $450,000 in 2008 for the young right-hander, but Maine, unlike several other young stars around baseball, isn’t bearing a grudge.
Quite the opposite. Maine is hoping the Mets will reach out to him with a multi-year offer before he gets to the arbitration process next offseason. A source close to the 26-year-old starter told The Post preliminary talks already have begun.
“[Maine] loves pitching in New York and loves pitching for the Mets,” the source said. “He’s not a guy who worries about what other people are doing.”
Players on the 40-man roster with fewer than three years of service time and not eligible for arbitration essentially can have their salaries dictated by the club if they don’t agree on a contract beforehand. This can often lead to animosity – take the loud and public complaints from Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder, Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon and Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels.
But you didn’t, and won’t, hear Maine complain.
“I’m thankful for everything I make in this league,” he told The Post. “It’s still a lot of money, and I’m grateful to the Mets. That’s just the type of person I am. I’m lucky to be doing this for a living.”
Maine was the only one of 13 Mets in that zero-to-three-year service class this year to have his contract unilaterally renewed. Ruben Gotay, Joe Smith, Anderson Hernandez and Angel Pagan were among the 12 able to work out deals with the Mets.
Should Maine have a season close to his 15-win breakout of last year, he would be in line for $3 million or more in 2009 through the arbitration process.
But Tampa’s Jamie Shields signed a four-year, $11.25 million deal this offseason that can balloon to $44 million over seven years if all the options are activated and bonuses reached. Because Shields has almost the same service time and a similar statistical history to Maine, that could provide a structure for Maine to work out a deal.
Having his contract dictated by the Mets didn’t prevent David Wright from ultimately signing a six-year, $55 million contract before ever reaching arbitration.
Mets assistant GM John Ricco, who handled Maine’s contract situation for the club this year, defended the renewal of Maine at far less than what Fielder, Papelbon and Hamels got, saying the Mets are trying to maintain a budget. That budget has transformed into an NL high of more than $140 million thanks to Johan Santana’s record-setting deal and pitcher Oliver Perez’s $6.5 million arbitration victory.
“We have a system that we plug the guys into, and we think it’s fair,” Ricco said. “It’s our right to renew them at the number we choose.”
Money certainly didn’t appear to be on Maine’s mind yesterday at Roger Dean Stadium. Despite having a lineup filled with rookie-league level players behind him, he cruised for the most part through three innings of work in the Mets’ 6-2 Grapefruit League win.
Maine allowed four hits, including a second-inning homer to Jose Castillo, but kept his fastball down, struck out three and gave up no walks while throwing 44 pitches.
EXHIBITION Mets 6 Marlins 2
bhubbuch@nypost.com