" Hopefully he will be on the mound for Opening Day"
Yesterday during the early afternoon Twitter blew up when word came out that Johan Santana would most likely not throw a major league pitch for the Mets this season. This came out along with the news that Johan decided not to pitch in today’s playoff for the Mets minor league affiliate, Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League. Johan felt it was unfair for him to disrupt a minor league title series - especially when he admitted that he was far from being 100 percent. According to Adam Rubin of the ESPN Mets Blog, Mets Manager – Terry Collins said that Johan would throw a simulated game near his home in Fort Myers Florida on Sunday, then he will go on to the Mets Fall instructional League before shutting down his arm for the season. He is expected to be ready for Opening Day 2012. To read Rubin’s column click here .
So after this story broke there were cries from the deepest depths of the Mets lunatic fringe that both Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins lied to the fans that Johan would be back either just before or right after the All-Star Break. if that was the case, I say ” WHO CARES” !?! I admit that I am disappointed that Johan will not pitch a single inning for the Mets this season, but I would rather Johan, along with the Mets medical and rehabilitation staff to be as cautious as possible – rather than rush him back to a season that has no chance to be salvaged. Take a look at pitcher Chin Ming Wang. He was out of baseball for two seasons before coming back in the middle of this season. He has looked far from the dominant Wang we remember in his days as a Yankee, but he seems to be getting stronger with every start he makes. Hopefully Johan when ( and if) he pitches again for the Mets will hopefully be light years ahead in the recovery process than Wang is
But the question here is did Sandy knowingly lie to us fans ? It is possible. Look Sandy had the difficult task to trying to sell a mediocre team to the fans. He acquired some very interesting pieces this past off season, and the Mets were extremely competitive for a while before injury and the trading of key pieces helped to sink this season. Sometimes you have to experience some pain before you can feel pleasure, and I feel that barring any major setbacks, Johan will be on that mound at Citi Field on April 5 2012 – Opening Day against the Braves.
Whether he is anywhere near the dominant pitcher he once was remains to be seen.
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Mets utility man from ’84-’65, Charley Smith would have been 74 today (1937).
Spot starter/middle reliever from ’77-’80, John Pacella is 55 (1956). The Brooklyn born Pacella was best known for both his porno mustache as well as the fact that his baseball cap would fly off after almost every pitch. Then Mets television announcer,Steve Albert even had a “cap count” – because his cap spent more time on the field than on his head !
Middle reliever from the ’02 season, Satoru Komiyama is 46 (1965). He appeared in 25 games for the Mets that season, had a record of 0-3 with a E.R.A of 5.61, and I don’t remember him !
Middle reliever from the ’91 season, Doug Simons is 45(1966) .
Reserve infielder from ’96-’96, Jason Hardtke is 40 (1971).
The New York Mets traded minor league pitchers, Shane Young and Jeff Richardson to the California Angels for one pitcher, John Candelaria on September 15, 1987. The “Candy Man” was brought in to help stabilize the starting rotation during the ’87 playoff run. He went 2-0 in three starts, but had a bloated E.R.A of 5.84. He would go on to sign with the Yankees that off season.
Rumor has it that Mo Vaughn will be a contestant on ” Dancing With The Stars”. All I can say is I feel sorry for his dance partner’s feet, arms, legs … Well you get the point !
13 comments
TRS86
9/15/2011-10:08am at 10:08 am (UTC -4)
I remember his comments and do not feel lied to at all. He mentioned many times that with any injury like this there is no certain recovery period. While best case was ASB it really depended on what happen once Johan started firing it up for real. Also what we don’t know is if he would have pushed himself more if the Mets were in contention.
rusty
9/15/2011-10:12am at 10:12 am (UTC -4)
The title was more sarcasm than the way I feel – like I said I’d rather have a healthy Johan next season then one that might reaggriavate the injury this season
Anonymous
9/15/2011-11:18am at 11:18 am (UTC -4)
I agree with real. It was clearly best case optimism, that no one really expected to happen. Did he do it intentionally to give fans something to hope for? Maybe. But he did not “lie”.
and also, the lunatic fringe has gotten really crazy lately. The comments sections at some sites (OK, MMO) have become unreadable, thanks to a few true idiots that just ruin it for people that actually want to have adult conversation!
Darknova306
9/15/2011-12:08pm at 12:08 pm (UTC -4)
To say he lied is to attach a level of certainty about injury recovery that just doesn’t exist. It’s impossible to predict when a player will be fully recovered and ready to play in the majors after even small injuries, how in the world could anyone know anything certain about recovery from Johan’s injury? It was all speculation and ‘best case’ guessing. Let the whiners moan and complain about the front office.
MetsFan4Decades
9/15/2011-12:21pm at 12:21 pm (UTC -4)
I have to imagine that having a Twitter account and trying to follow baseball news via that media is a little like listening to WFAN with the callers who participate via that outlet. Only difference is you’re reading the opinions instead of listening to them. Probably can make you crazy at times. By choice, I wouldn’t know…..
Don’t think any realistic Met fan had any illusions Johan was coming back this year. I didn’t think twice about it when reading his progress the past couple of weeks. There were really people out there who thought the FO lied? Not sure how anyone could take at face value what this FO might have been saying when the doctors themselves had no idea concerning a time table.
Ceetar
9/15/2011-2:53pm at 2:53 pm (UTC -4)
I thought we might get ~6 or so starts out of him possibly. Wasn’t betting on it, but I also wasn’t buying the assumption that he wouldn’t either.
Turns out he won’t, but the setbacks have all been small and proactive. It’s not just about recovery, it’s about rehab, and to pitch you need to build up muscle and shoulder strength. Which is why they’re not shutting him down, as some seem to think he should be. They’ll try to get him a couple of winter league appearances, but they also want him to have a suitable rest period before dialing it up for Spring Training. his goal is it not be special when he reports in February and to take the same path as the other starters.
MetsFan4Decades
9/15/2011-3:09pm at 3:09 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed.
There were many Met fans in the beginning of the season, who were actually banking on Johan coming back second half – dominating and helping towards the WC hunt.
SaltyGary
9/15/2011-1:18pm at 1:18 pm (UTC -4)
Was just curious about who the former minor league players of the year were and this is what I could find:
2011 Josh Satin Darin Gorski
2010 Lucas Duda Mark Cohoon
2009 Ike Davis Jeurys Familia
2008 Dan Murphy/Nick Evans Jonathon Niese
2007 Anderson Hernandez Kevin Mulvey
2006 Mike Carp Mike Pelfrey
2005 Brian Bannister
2004 David Wright
2003 Matt Peterson
2002 Jose Reyes
2001 Jose Reyes
2000 Brian Cole
1999 Dickey Gonzalez
1998 Alex Escobar
SaltyGary
9/15/2011-1:28pm at 1:28 pm (UTC -4)
Oh and that 9th inning was pretty lame last. night.
Adam "Prismo"
9/15/2011-1:43pm at 1:43 pm (UTC -4)
Sandy didn’t lie, but….
I believe he was intentionally overly-positive about Johan’s recovery. We’ve been over this, so I won’t drag on, but suffice to say I don’t approve of the “only giving the best case scenario” method the Mets are using.
SaltyGary
9/15/2011-6:10pm at 6:10 pm (UTC -4)
Tried to score a MetsBlog Bump in Cerrone’s chat but it didn’t work out…
Matt, what are your other favorite Mets blogs?by saltygary 2:08 PM
(In response to the question up above) Saltygary, I’m very brand loyal,
so I tend to seek out Amazin Avenue (for statistical looks), Faith and
Fear in Flushing (for historical stuff) & Mets Police (for
off-field, hats, unis, ballpark type stuff). But, I also have close to
150 Mets sites in my RSS reader, so…
SaltyGary
9/15/2011-6:12pm at 6:12 pm (UTC -4)
And it really makes me ill to ask silly questions like that but felt like there was a good opportunity to tget it in with the rain delay.
Erica Sweeney
9/15/2011-10:57pm at 10:57 pm (UTC -4)
You are 100% right. What difference would Johan’s pitching make at this point? Now if for some reason he’s not ready for opening day 2012, that’s a different story.