FanHouse FernandoNieve

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Heading into 2009, here's what we thought we knew about Rich Harden: Absolutely lights out stuff, but can't be counted on to stay healthy consistently. In 2008, he went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 148 innings. Those are elite numbers on a per-start basis. The problem, of course, is that he only made 25 starts. In 2007, he had a 2.45 ERA, but only pitched 25 2/3 innings.

Until Monday night, 2009 had been quite surprising from the 27-year-old right-hander.

NEW YORK - Mets right-hander John Maine, who was supposed to continue a minor-league rehabilitation assignment Saturday, instead will not pick up a ball for a week because of recurring discomfort in his shoulder.

Maine (5-4 with a 4.52 ERA) called his injury "a little bit of a pinched nerve" and conceded he will be out at least through the All-Star break.

Without Maine, the Mets can continue to use Fernando Nieve in the rotation. Nieve, claimed from the Astros on waivers in March, is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA since being called up.

Oliver Perez, out since early May, is scheuled to pitch Sunday for Class A Brooklyn on his rehab assignment.

Maine, who went on the disabled list June 12, said he was fine throwing a bullpen session Wednesday but had his shoulder act up Thursday while playing catch.

"I had to say something," he said. "I thought I could get through it and I just couldn't.

"I threw about 10 [times] and it hurt, so I just stopped."

All spring the Astros wondered who would fill the final slot in their rotation. Chris Sampson rode a mediocre spring to fill that position over Fernando Nieve, Matt Albers, and Brian Moehler (who wound up in the bullpen). Instead it seems that the spot that was most in jeopardy was Wandy Rodriguez as the fourth starter. Wandy finished the spring so poorly he needed a solid showing in his last Grapefruit League outing to prevent himself from being demoted to AAA.

Heading into Saturday, Rodriguez had given up six runs (five earned) over his last eight exhibition innings, including the three runs he gave up March 20 in a Class A outing. He was markedly better Saturday, giving up two runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts in six innings before a crowd of 29,551.

"If he had really scuffled today, that might have changed our minds," Purpura said. "We met this morning and kind of lined things up and made kind of an A and B plan. And this is the plan that we chose."

Wandy is probably going to be on a short leash this year because Nieve had a better spring than either Rodriguez or Sampson, yet will be heading back down to AAA Round Rock to start the season.

When your rotation consists of Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt, and Roger Clemens you don't have to worry much about who starts after them because you're going to win a lot of games. When that rotation gets broken up, suddenly fourth and fifth starters become much more important. That's the situation the Astros find themselves in this spring and they're having trouble filling the rotation out.

With less than two weeks remaining before the start of the season, the Astros still haven't answered any of the key questions they had when spring training began one month ago.

At the top of that list is the competition for the fifth and final spot in the pitching rotation, which is a four-man race among young righthanders Matt Albers, Fernando Nieve and Chris Sampson and veteran righthander Brian Moehler.

They have had their ups and downs this spring and will have only a couple of more chances to show manager Phil Garner and his staff what they can do.

"They're all scheduled to pitch right on through to the exhibition series against Kansas City (March 30, 31 at Minute Maid Park)," Garner said. "It may take me that long to figure out what I'm going to do."

It seems like as easy as it was for the Cardinals to answer their rotation questions, it's been every bit that hard for the Astros to answer theirs. With the way the four competitors for the spot have pitched, it's pretty hard to even call any of them the "winner" for the final rotation spot, no matter who ends up with it.