Why Santana is NOT Behind Schedule

There’s a very clear reason that Johan Santana’s road to recovery is NOT behind schedule, as has been reported by the Bergen Record. From MLB.com:

“How can anyone who isn’t me know how I feel and say I’m behind?” Santana said. “How can I be behind if there’s no timetable? All we know is that it takes a long time. And no one is sure how long or how I will react to the program. Other people have had this, and they’re not me.”

So there you have it: Santana can’t be behind because THERE IS NO TIMETABLE.

Apparently, Santana has not been communicating with the Mets front office — and GM Sandy Alderson in particular. Let’s go back a month to review this bit of info from Adam Rubin of ESPN-NY:

General manager Sandy Alderson outlined a timetable Thursday that would allow left-hander Johan Santana to return to the New York Mets in late June or early July.

Santana, 31, underwent Sept. 14 surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder.

Two weeks ago, Santana started tossing a baseball every other day.

Alderson said Santana likely will not step onto a mound until about May 1. From that point, it could take six to eight weeks to be ready to contribute.

“So if you do the math, it gets you to the end of June, the middle part of July,” Alderson said.

There’s that word — “timetable” — though it was written by Rubin and not spoken by Alderson. Still, Alderson seems to insinuate that there is a schedule of some sort — one that would have Johan Santana back on the mound, in a Mets uniform, facing MLBers, around midseason.

Is there a miscommunication between player and management? Was Alderson’s “timetable” pure spin?