johan santana

What Are Johan Santana’s Chances of Recovery?

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On Saturday, Steve Popper and Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record dropped the bomb that Johan Santana’s 2011 season might be in jeopardy.

Well, it’s only a bomb if you don’t read MetsToday; we wrote off Johan’s 2011 way back in early September. But that’s just me being all “gloom and doom” … or a realistic view of the situation, depending on your outlook. Personally, I tend to have low expectations for pitchers returning from serious shoulder injuries, and didn’t see any reason to view Santana’s injury any differently. It made more sense, to me, to plan the 2011 Mets pitching staff without Santana — and if by some small miracle he made a comeback, it would be a wonderful and welcome surprise.

But planning without Santana doesn’t sell tickets, and the Mets are desperate for revenues. So, the team will continue to spin the fantasy of Johan’s return at some point in 2011.

Putting that aside for a moment, we must wonder if Santana will be able to return by 2012 — and if he does, will he be anything near the ace starter he was before shoulder surgery?

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Phil Humber Claimed by Oakland Athletics

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According to Bob Dutton’s tweet and MLB.com, the Oakland A’s have claimed former Mets prospect Phil Humber off waivers from the Kansas City Royals. Ironically, Humber was placed on waivers to make room on the 40-man roster after the Royals signed another ex-Met — Jeff Francoeur. Though Humber came nowhere near fulfilling the promise he … Read more

2010 Analysis: Johan Santana

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It seemed as though every postgame of a Santana start began with, “Johan didn’t have his best stuff, but …”. Indeed, Santana rarely had his best stuff. Most of the time, he looked more like a wily, crafty veteran, using his smarts, guile, guts, and savvy to overcome fading stuff and keep his team in … Read more

Planning Without Santana

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We have heard the news that Johan Santana will not pitch again in 2010, due to a shoulder injury. Despite the fact that Santana has yet to see Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion, and has yet to even schedule a surgery date — much less undergo the surgery, which will reveal the true extent of the injury — we have also been told that Johan “will begin playing catch in January” and is expected to be OK next season.

Why am I having a feeling of deja vu?

Perhaps because I still remember — all too clearly — similar response by management to injuries to J.J. Putz, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Duaner Sanchez, John Maine, Ryan Church, and most recently, Jason Bay.

So pardon me if I’m a bit cynical regarding Santana’s recovery.

This is a team that counted on Carlos Beltran to return to perfect health by Opening Day after what might’ve been microfracture surgery; believed Kelvim Escobar could be the setup man even if he couldn’t grip a baseball; planned on a starting rotation that had four pitchers returning from surgery and a fifth who was the backup plan. And this “hope for the best” wasn’t new — the Mets similarly crossed their fingers that high-impact players would return from injuries in previous seasons. Putz, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, Pedro Martinez, and Carlos Delgado are a few that immediately come to mind.

You would think that management would

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