It appears as though the amazing warrior who was too burned out to work hard all offseason is–yet again–out.
Many fans seem to want to pretend that we are eagerly awaiting the return of the pitcher Johan has not been for even close to a full season since at least 2009, while others want to pretend that Johan will be ready for opening day and that this is “much ado about nothing.”
Still others refuse to accept the clear reality that both Johan and his agent defiantly stated that Johan was “burned out” and just could not face up to full offseason conditioning in order to attempt to earn the $31 million he will receive in 2013, on top of the $45 million he received over the last two years.
Yes, Johan Santana will have received just over $76 million for 2011–2013 when his Met saga is played out.
Let that settle for a moment.
Now, as many point out, money is, of course, not everything. However, neither Johan nor any of his loved ones or golf partners will ever have to even flirt with the idea of working again in this or any other lifetime. Even if Johan–as predicted here–is able to rest for much of the year and take a different path in 2013, i.e. take time off earlier than usual and finish strong in pursuit of another contract, he surely will not be in the majors for more than another 3–5 years tops. He will have many, many years to relax and enjoy his life without having to do anything he does not feel like doing.
He clearly is breaking down, and was open about being unwilling and/or unable to do all of the offseason work necessary to arrive in baseball shape this spring.
Is it unreasonable to expect a pitcher who has been paid a gargantuan sum–even by today’s baseball standards–to do whatever is needed to arrive in the best possible physical condition? Is it unreasonable to ask for this effort from a pitcher who has thrown 21 games and won 6 for $45M the last two years with $31M on the table for 2013? Does he not owe the fans/ownership/his teammates/the game more than, say, a Lucas Duda or a Bobby Parnell, all things considered? Does he not have a responsibility to be ready for camp?
The feeling here is that Johan was a true baseball great when he arrived in 2008–and he had a great year. In 2009 and 2010 he was very good and certainly did his part. The last two years have been tremendous disappointments. And this spring has, alas, perhaps shown another side of the true Johan Santana.
Petulant, defiant, angry, unapologetic, and displaying an amazing sense of entitlement–again, while being paid more than much of the rest of the squad combined.
All one can say is that the sooner this human money vacuum is gone from this roster, the sooner the true future can begin to play itself out.
49 comments
srt
3/11/2013-10:52am at 10:52 am (UTC -4)
I’m assuming we’re taking at face value Johan’s agent’s comments on being ‘burned out’ going into the off season. I can’t help thinking there is more to this story but even if so, it might be details we never know about.
That aside, no….I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask him to show up at ST camp ready to pitch – meaning all he would need would be the ST work the rest of the pitchers do, to be ready to go by Opening day.
Money is not the factor, IMO. I don’t care if they’re making minimum wage or millions of dollars. They should show up in ST ready to go (baring some unforeseen injury).
Don’t know what Johan was thinking. Very possible he still thinks he’s 25 and all his arm needed was ST. Then again, where are the Mets responsibility in all this?
– Don’t they recommend an off season program for those players who ended the season on the DL?
-Don’t they at least check in and document what those players are doing?
-Do they cross their fingers hoping the players themselves seek out an off season program on their own?
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:00am at 11:00 am (UTC -4)
As I recall, his agent said that Johan was too burned out to do all of the offseason work, what with having pitched a total of 21 games since early September 2010.
And I agree 100% that anyone who has the incredible good fortune to be able to play MLB baseball for a living–and have a very nice life with a 4+ month offseason–absolutely owes it to the game and the fans to come into camp in tip top shape.
A player like Johan, who has been paid so very much for so very little in recent years has, IMHO, a much, much larger responsibility to do this.
The combo of his clearly not doing this AND having an amazingly bad attitude about it is rather revolting to me.
Stickguy
3/11/2013-11:08am at 11:08 am (UTC -4)
teams give the players a roadmap of an off season plan, and certainly have expectations, but they are on their own and can’t be forced to do anything.
darknova306
3/11/2013-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
It’s an employee’s responsibility to be in the right condition to perform their job. In the real world, someone doing what he’s doing would be rightly fired and replaced with someone more willing to do what’s needed. He is 100% responsible for his own physical condition.
Stick
3/11/2013-12:09pm at 12:09 pm (UTC -4)
too bad this is the MLBPA fantasy world of tenured guaranteed contracts.
I can’t even imagine what a guy would have to do to have a contract voided (outside of the obvious felonies, etc.).
Just being a fat lazy slob is not likely to do it!
darknova306
3/11/2013-12:24pm at 12:24 pm (UTC -4)
These contracts are almost impossible to void. MLB Teamsters…
TRS86
3/11/2013-10:55am at 10:55 am (UTC -4)
LOL, what I find entertaining is that there are some that are actually concerned about his 215 innings option and think that’s an actual concern and that the Mets are holding him back. Damn we love some conspiracy theories. Johan can’t pitch 215 innings in 2 seasons.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:01am at 11:01 am (UTC -4)
It’s not a conspiracy theory–it is acute stupidity.
The only place I have seen that is from the idiot in charge of Metsblog.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:04am at 11:04 am (UTC -4)
I think Sherman mentioned it too or I may have the wrong buffoon.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:14am at 11:14 am (UTC -4)
From the biggest joke not just in Met Nation, not just in the sports blogosphere, but for my money possibly in all of cyberspace:
“There are other ways the option could kick in, such as competing for a Cy Young Award or throwing 300 innings, but they’re unlikely to happen…However, it is possible Santana pitches 215 innings.”
Mike Bee
3/13/2013-11:00am at 11:00 am (UTC -4)
“The biggest joke…in all of cyberspace.” I like this blog already.
TRS86
3/13/2013-11:21am at 11:21 am (UTC -4)
LOL, Welcome Mike Bee!
Mike Bee
3/13/2013-11:43am at 11:43 am (UTC -4)
Thank you!
It’s my fervent belief that Matt Harvey can someday win a Cy Young award.
TRS86
3/13/2013-11:45am at 11:45 am (UTC -4)
LOL, you have just been Cerroned.
Stickguy
3/11/2013-11:06am at 11:06 am (UTC -4)
215 was never in play. Never. No chance.
But, I am pretty sure now that this is playing out per the plan that Johan and his agent laid out for themselves. that is, focus on 2014 (hell, the Mets are, why not them?). Just take the entire winter and spring off, and use the 1st half of the regular season to slowly get back into game shape. Then pitch the last few months.
Just enough to convince some sucker (Cashman? Amaro?) that he really does have something left, and to hustle one more big contract, but not enough to break down.
figure 80-100 IP from 6/15-7/15.
of course, that screws the Mets 2 ways. Hurts (most likely) the chances of a decent start and 1st half (if not actually in contention, at least interesting), and eliminates the chances of trading him for any relief or prospects.
TX
3/11/2013-11:09am at 11:09 am (UTC -4)
Even if he was pitching well, I don’t see them getting much in return, even if the whole salary was being eaten. Maybe a Lutz type?
At best, maybe an OK A level prospect.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:12am at 11:12 am (UTC -4)
Well lets say he was putting up the same numbers he was last year though June. You might get better than that.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:09am at 11:09 am (UTC -4)
Bing–f***ing–o.
The human money vacuum is about one thing, and it ain’t loyalty to the Mets or their fans.
Boomer
3/11/2013-11:08am at 11:08 am (UTC -4)
In order to get over 200 innings a pitcher has to average about 7 innings in 30 starts.
Anyone who thinks Santana is on this path please report for your drug test.
darknova306
3/11/2013-12:26pm at 12:26 pm (UTC -4)
Santana pitching 215 innings? Let me speak for the rest of the internet by saying “LOLZ”. I don’t think a bizarre enough parallel universe exists to allow that to happen in any form of reality.
TX
3/11/2013-11:02am at 11:02 am (UTC -4)
To me, he’s a sunk cost and I’m hoping they get something out of him, even for a little while. I don’t think he’ll have any value in a trade and we’ll probably be seeing a bunch of the Hefner/Mejia/McHugh parade prior to Wheeler’s arrival. And that is assuming Marcum holds together.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:05am at 11:05 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, tell him to take his time and look healthy in June and July then eat every penny of his contract and try to get something useful.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:08am at 11:08 am (UTC -4)
Agreed with you both here.
But to me, it is just hugely disappointing that he came to came out of shape and is being such an a-hole about it.
Don’t take a contract like that if you don’t want to work hard in year 6 of a 7-year deal.
TX
3/11/2013-11:10am at 11:10 am (UTC -4)
I’m with you here. No room for douche-baggery.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:11am at 11:11 am (UTC -4)
I think that SRT has brought this up before. I think that Johan expected his arm to rebound better than it did and it has caught him off-guard and his ego has taken over from there. Kinda reminds me of that brawl. How Mexico had their 3B point to the ribs and tell the pitcher to bean the guy just because they couldn’t stop a bunt. Then the guy throws at the batter 3 times sucking it up the first 2 and then crow around after hitting him on the 3rd pitch.
I am man… nope you’re a clown.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:20am at 11:20 am (UTC -4)
Hey, Oliver Perez showed how tough he can be!!
Stickguy
3/11/2013-11:28am at 11:28 am (UTC -4)
Ollie always has that perpetual “wait, where am I and what am I doing here?” look on his face.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:33am at 11:33 am (UTC -4)
Oh not the other night, he was running around making a bigger fool out of himself than normal. All because someone bunted on them in a blowout. Big deal you pansies. You had to throw at the guy 3 times to even get the guy that didn’t do anything back for a guy bunting on you. Immmmma man.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:51am at 11:51 am (UTC -4)
Yeah, and the reason for the bunt–and I am no WBC expert–is apparently some tiebreakers are based on total runs scored, so the bunt was NOT bad sportsmanship, but apparently just an attempt to be in better position by scoring more.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
Yeah and then supposedly after the game Mexico’s players said they were unaware. Who gives a damn though. Get the guy out and then it isn’t an issue. In basketball we have to deal with this junk all the time. Especially when you play in tournaments and you have tiebreaker rules like this. It can get ugly but would you rather have your name pulled out of a hat?
Boomer
3/11/2013-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
You are correct, sir.
Seriously, if you don’t know the rules of the game you shouldn’t be playing let alone throwing at other players.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:55am at 11:55 am (UTC -4)
Agreed with you both, and my thought on this is always that unless the other team pledges not to try to score any more runs, why the hell shouldn’t you continue trying to score more runs?
TRS86
3/11/2013-12:00pm at 12:00 pm (UTC -4)
In basketball you will see it where I am up 30 and put in my subs then the other coach starts pressing my subs. What in the hell are you trying to do? Lose by 22 instead of 30?
Anyway, yeah I take the Bobby Bowden approach that I heard at a football clinic.
If my third string is better than your first string then you either need to recruit better or stop whining.
Boomer
3/11/2013-12:02pm at 12:02 pm (UTC -4)
There’s also the mercy rule to deal with. Actually, I guess its multiple different mercy rules, x amount of run differential per inning.
The sooner you can dispatch an opponent the fewer pitchers you have to use which is also crucial in a tournament like this where there are some byzantine rules governing the number of pitches a guy can throw and how many games in a row a given pitcher can throw.
This whole disrespecting thing has taken on a different place in sports than when I was a kid. It used to be the idea was to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentations of their women. Now its all about don’t disrespect me man.
I blame the “everybody gets a trophy for showing up” crap.
Stick
3/11/2013-12:11pm at 12:11 pm (UTC -4)
remember what Ronnie said.
there is no book!
TRS86
3/11/2013-12:27pm at 12:27 pm (UTC -4)
I remember when I was a young coach I had a team that was up 55-12 at half-time. I played my 3rd string and the team who had not pressed any the entire game started pressing. I looked down at him with this puzzled look as my 3rd string was getting embarrassed. I thought about putting my 1st string back in but then I started pressing my 3rd string. Oh hell you would have thought I broke every unwritten rule in the book. So much that I got called to the central office infront of the county Athletic director.
So the next time when we played them I started my 3rd string against their first and my best players didn’t play and we still won. Back at the central office because I was then trying to embarrass them by only playing my 3rd string… LOL.
darknova306
3/11/2013-12:28pm at 12:28 pm (UTC -4)
If you don’t want to get shown up, then stop giving up runs. Don’t start a fight just because you suck.
darknova306
3/11/2013-12:34pm at 12:34 pm (UTC -4)
TRS, that’s a really sad story. It shows what a joke our mentality has become in this country. Everyone’s a winner, everyone’s special, you can’t make someone feel bad by scoring points on them because they suck. Wah! Wah! What a f$%king joke. If you don’t want to be embarrassed on the court/field/whatever, play better. Don’t whine about it.
And if you’re going to whine and cry because someone beat you by a ton of points, go find an activity that you’re actually good at.
TRS86
3/11/2013-12:36pm at 12:36 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, I have matured a little now and realize that them taking that 40 point lead and turning it into a 22 point lead doesn’t matter in the scheme of things but yeah it’s a true story.
Boomer
3/11/2013-12:55pm at 12:55 pm (UTC -4)
I attended high school in MA and one of our league opponents had a pretty good goalie on their high school hockey team. You might have heard of him, his name was Tom Barrasso. Yeah, that one.
We would routinely lose to these guys buy 10 goals. This was friggin high school hockey in MAl not some Pee Wee league.
It got pretty depressing after a while and one day at practice before going up to get stoned by these guys again I remember our coach giving us some sage advice. “Tired of being embarrassed? Play better.”
Thus ended the pity party.
TRS86
3/11/2013-1:00pm at 1:00 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, HS sports are funny. We have parents now that only care about their kid. They will come up and complain after a good win that a younger player played over their kid. I want to say well hell if your kid didn’t suck we wouldn’t have this issue now would we? But as it was said above, in today’s rec ball society everyone gets a trophy and playing time should be either equal or based on seniority.
gategem
3/12/2013-5:11am at 5:11 am (UTC -4)
Political correctness in the system has filtered down to sports. There was some talk of discarding the grading system in the academic world. Further, I read where some colleges are no longer considering the SATs as part of the admission requirements and replacing it with extracurricular activities in HS. I know there has been some corruption in the world of the SATs with kids being paid off to take the test for others. I also realize some environments aren’t conducive to studying, have poor schools and potentially successful students fall by the wayside. But lowering the standards for all doesn’t seem to improve the situation. PC run amuck is an easy way out and a major problem.
When I attended HS the pitchers hit so if we hit someone we had to expect retaliation. I always yelled “look out” when I threw at someone and if I hit them and they complained I would tell them to stop their whining and put some dirt on it. If they continued to complain I would ask them if they want their mommy to kiss it to make it better. Yeah, I got into a lot of fights.
Stickguy
3/11/2013-11:27am at 11:27 am (UTC -4)
I think SRT could be right. Assuming it was not the plot i described (though who doesn’t like a good conspiracy theory!), maybe he did figure that fulling resting would be the best thing for helping all his injured parts heal. Which certainly could be true. And then hit ST, be nice and fresh, and build right back up to his old self.
then of course, discover that doing nothing for 6 months killed his muscle tone/arm strength/whatever it is, and essentially panic. And go into mach self-defense (AKA I am a man!) mode.
probably the worst thing you can do after coming into camp unprepared is to try and rush the build up process.
at this point, nothing to do but work methodically on getting the arm in shape, and pitch when he is ready, which IMO is highly unlikely to be before May now, and quite possibly June.
TRS86
3/11/2013-11:29am at 11:29 am (UTC -4)
Oh he would have done that if not for that rascally Alderson.
gategem
3/11/2013-11:34am at 11:34 am (UTC -4)
I had read that Johan’s arm needed time to recuperate from the post operation rehabilitation effort combined with last season’s activity. While the number of pitching performances since the surgery has been small the actual time spent doing the prescribed exercises is considerable and requires fanatical devotion, is exhausting and a strain on the body. He apparently did not slack off during that period and worked very hard to be able to pitch again. Since recovery from the surgery Johan underwent takes you into uncharted waters the Mets have been very careful in their handling of Johan.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
Sorry my extremely esteemed friend; Johan and his agent both most specifically said that Johan was–to use his agent’s exact words–”burned out” this offseason.
If true, revolting; if untrue, a comically pathetic piece of PR.
Regardless, Johan’s openly defiant/scornful f*** you attitude this spring is, IMHO, inexcusable.
I eagerly await the day he is far, far away from this team and its payroll.
darknova306
3/11/2013-12:20pm at 12:20 pm (UTC -4)
He had plenty of time before the off-season started to rest up and then ease into workouts over the winter. If he really was too burned out to do anything over the winter, then he’s a lost cause. If he really thought his body would respond better to not doing anything for 6 months and it’s betraying him, then his career will likely come to a merciful end sooner than later, likely in Pedro style.
I still support the “take it easy for the first half and ease into a couple months of good pitching to snag that next contract” theory. It’s sad, but it fits the Minaya Era of Arrogant Entitlement.
kingman 26
3/11/2013-12:29pm at 12:29 pm (UTC -4)
I like the Minaya Era of Contented Mediocrity.
Prismo
3/12/2013-11:13am at 11:13 am (UTC -4)
We just need him to last until mid-June so Wheeler can take over!!