25
2009
Elbow Surgery Expected For Johan Santana
An article by 
It saddens me to post this, but as was reported by Phil Hoops, Johan Santana will have an MRI on his ailing elbow on Tuesday. On Monday night, details started to emerge that Johan Santana and several other players are expecting the worst and that Santana will require season ending elbow surgery.
Marty Noble reports on Mets.com,
Mets players said Monday they expect Johan Santana will require surgery on his left elbow to repair whatever malady has prompted the club to scratch the pitcher from his scheduled start against the Marlins in Miami on Tuesday. Instead of making his 26th start, Santana is to have his elbow examined by Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek. And, if his teammates’ sense of the situation is right, his next start likely will be next season.
The Mets have known about this elbow pain since long before the All Star break in June, and even while the season was obviously a lost cause, they allowed Santana to continue to pitch. At no time did they do anything as logical as having him skip a start to see if the pain subsided . Instead they decided that he would not throw in between starts during his routine bullpen sessions, and that he would continue to take the mound every fifth day and throw 100 or more pitches.
They are not saying anything about the matter, and Mets trainers and doctors were prohibited from speaking to the media. No official statement was released to the press.
Santana, 30, is in the second year of a six-year, $137.5 million contract. He has a 13-9 record and 3.13 ERA in 25 starts and 166 2/3 innings. If he doesn’t start again this season, he will fall short of 33 starts and 219 innings for the first time since 2003. That also was the most recent season in which he didn’t win at least 15 games.
Mike Pelfrey said, “I don’t think anyone expects good news.” And Jeff Francoeur said he anticipates Santana will require surgery after speaking with the pitcher in the clubhouse Monday. Other players said Santana seems resigned to surgery.
It wasn’t until today when Johan begged out of his next start, that the Mets decided to finally send him for an MRI and an examination of his left elbow. Outrageous.
Jerry Manuel answered questions for reporters on Monday evening and said,
“He has not been throwing between starts for quite awhile. I would say since before the All-Star break. He has been pitching with this problem, but not with the level of discomfort he has now. I’m terribly concerned, no question about it.”
It looks like the Mets have once again have botched their handling of an injured player, only this time it has risen to epic proportions. While many of the injuries were no fault of the Mets, many of them were mishandled or misdiagnosed, which in turn led to longer periods on the disabled list for some players as well as several setbacks. This latest episode may end up being the worst one yet.
Expect more press conferences and lots of ducking for cover, but rest assured that Omar Minaya will remain the GM even in the face of yet another disastrous decision.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
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Well, at least the Mets are not competing for a playoff spot this season, so it’s an easier decision for them to shut Santana down now. Last year, he pitched hurt because the Mets were competitive until the last day of the season and he was fortunate not to suffer a bigger injury than what he had. He might not be as fortunate this season.
For your determination and willingness to protect your teammates, I’d like to thank you, Johan. Now get fixed up so we can all have a better season in 2010!
Johan is a warrior. It’s up to the Mets to protect players from themselves sometimes. The Mets failed to do that.
Joe? Wait. Are you saying that Santana has had so much discomfort in his elbow that he has NOT been able to throw between starts since the ALL_Star break and the Mets knew this (medical staff) and did not get an MRI until now?
How many starts did Santana make between the All-Star Break and now 6? 7? Figure about 90 pitches a start, that’s almost 585 pitches with an injured elbow! Holy Sh_t! That is absolutely horrible. I just can’t believe that. It makes no sense. It’s mind boggling.
Why?
Unfortunately, that’s what I’m saying. I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.
If he does require surgery, I’m sure he wont even be ready for Opening Day.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
I’m starting to think Citi Field is cursed. Maybe someone dropped a Yadier Molina jersey in the cement, a la David Ortiz
Does this really surprise anybody at this point?
I am sitting here on my 2nd vodka and tonic eating cheezits and lsitening to the WFAN. Richard Near just stated that Jerry Manuel stated, “..I didn’t know. I didn’t know it was that bad.” (referring to Santana’s elbow)
How could Manuel not know? This is just bizzare!
with the injury’s this team has went through i didnt even blink twice when i read the post i dont really care about it at this point its better for him to get surgury early go through rehab and be 110% for next april. as for the rest of the team who knows when reyes or beltran or delgado will be back maybe before the end of the season maybe not i say dont push it have these guys train like mofo’s and be ready for next year
If it’s TJ surgery he wont be back until 2011. Remember it’s his elbow that’s hurting him, not his shoulder, rotator cuff or forearm.
i dont think its gonna be tj usually when guys get that they throw one or two pitches and have to leave the game ex.victor zambrano (carloses brother lesser skill mets picked up) well he had the same thing and i remember the game he left in he was in the third inning or something threw two pitching and just kinda screamed out in pain completly torn. but with santana i believe it could go into tj but they got it before it got to bad which is a first for the mets MD. Hopefully they’ll repair a slight tair in the elbow and that will b e all
As oour own beloved Ralph Kiner once said,
“If Casey Stengel were alive today, he’d be turning over in his grave.”
Joe is right. If it is the elbow and surgery is needed Santana will miss all of next year.
I’m sorry I just can’t get passed this, you invest ten of millions of dollars into a player and let that player make 7 starts with diminishing velocity, during a lost season and with an elbow so painful that he can’t throw between starts and no MRI????
I’m going to bed. This sucks.
Santana had elbow pain in spring training, and was shut down in MARCH, before being rushed to start the season on time, and after an off-season with knee surgery (arm troubles often begin when pitchers compensate for leg troubles). Was there NO ONE who was alarmed that Johan couldn’t throw between starts, for nearly a month? Was there no one keeping an eye on the team’s biggest investment?
The constant mishandling of Mets players’ injuries, on top of the unwillingness to draft and invest in the best available young prospects, leaves the team with no depth. It’s dispiriting to watch. The Mets appear to be run by a bunch of fools, with no housecleaning in sight.
It’s very difficult to root for this team right now, when organizational stupidity keeps undermining the players’ efforts on the field.
This season, with so many Mets players out due to long time injuries (unknown to the fans) at the express wishes of the Mets Management who do not allow any information of that kind to be made public, proves that the Wilpons are not suited to MLB baseball ownership. However, it is interesting to realize that the Mets Management treats their players as badly as they treat their fans – keeping them in the dark, and delaying medical attention for those players.
MLB needs to investigate the Wilpon’s management of this franchise.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
ANNIE, READ THE HIPPAA LAWS. MEDICAL INFO CAN NO LONGER BE DISSEMINATED BY ANYONE OTHER THAN THE PATIENT. COME JOIN US IN 2009; THOUGH YOU’D BEST WAIT FOR 2011.
Sorry, I was unaware of the privacy issue re: medical records. Thank you for informing me.
Actually, that is not true. It is up to the player and the team to make the decision. HIPAA only applies to health care professionals and providers (such as the hospital). The hospital could not release the results of medical tests but the team can if they choose. In hockey it’s just “upper body” or “lower body” unless the team chooses to release more info. NFL has it’s own rules. The teams are not restricted by HIPAA.
This team is just a joke. The GM, the manager, the medical staff, and ownership. How does Jerry not know that santana has been suffering and hasnt been throwing in between starts??? How is that possible???? I don’t mind the mets being in 4th place and not having a chance to make the playoffs, but the way in which this entire team has been run this year really makes me sick. I honestly can’t believe this team has just fallen apart from the inside out!
I wonder if this stigma of mishandling injuries will deter future free agents from signing with the Mets.
I also wonder if some (soon-to-be-former-) player will sue the Mets for malpractice over the bungling of an injury.
It is so sad that Johan was allowed to continue pitching with a known problem. He must be in a great deal of pain to have finally asked to be taken out of the rotation. I certainly hope he has not done irreparable damage to his elbow. I knew Johan when he was with the Battle Cats and he is such a trooper and sweet guy- not to mention a major talent. I hope and pray for the best outcome.
This is both sad and stunning. As bad as I think the Mets management has been, I really never thought they would let this happen to their franchise player. It’s like Omar and Manuel are begging, daring the Wilpons to fire them. How can Omar and Manuel begin to reason why they moved forward with starting him after complaining of pain? I would have thought the Wilpons would want their biggest investment protected. I agree with the MLB investigation into the mishandling of injured players, this is absolutely crazy!!!! How can anyone have grounds to argue for keeping Omar and Manuel now?
ACE, CONSIDERING OWNERSHIP’S RESTRICTIONS, I DOUBT YOU’LL FIND ANYONE BETTER WILLING TO TAKE THE JOB. JEFF MUCKS ABOUT, TURNS HIS TV-TOY(SNY) INTO AN ANTI-MET WEAPON ALL THE WHILE CAUSING MOST OF THE BREAKAGE HIMSELF CASTING BLAME EVERYWHERE ELSE TO COVER HIS & HIS FATHER’S FINGERPRINTS/FOOTPRINTS. REMEMBER, FRED PROMISED YOU MANINGFUL NOT CHAMPIONSHIPS. REMEMBER THIS OMAR WAS HIREDE FOR ’05; YET NYM HAD HIGHEST NL PAYROLL SINCE ’03, SECOND HIGHEST SINCE ’98 WHILE YOU’RE ASSESSING VALUE Vs RESULTS.
Here we go again: WHERE AM I ASSESSING VALUE -VS- RESULTS? AT THIS POINT, IT IS BAFFLING WHY YOU CONTINUE TO DEFEND OMAR. THE METS BIGGEST INVESTMENT IN A PLAYER, THE “FRANCHISE” PLAYER COMPLAINS OF PAIN IN HIS ARM, AND EVERYONE FROM THE PITCHING COACH, MANAGER, TO GM STILL SAYS CONTINUE STARTING GAMES. HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU. OPEN YOUR EYES METS FAN, OMAR IS NOT GOOD FOR THE TEAM!
He’s awful and it’s all about money. The Mets take the cheapest solution on everything. They won’t fire Omar because he has a 3 yr contract and Fred can afford to pay it, but not tear it up and pay Omar and the replacement GM as well. We are stuck with Omar for 3 yrs. The only solution is to sell the team and the Wilpons need to get that going. However, they may be using it as a cash cow to support their other lousy businesses. We may be stuck with these parasites in place. The Wilpons are parasites sucking the life out of the Mets. We have a tape worm in our system and its name is Fred.
SO, MASK, IS IT OMAR OR OWNERSHIP? I SAY OWNERSHIP. WHAT SAY U? REPLACE OMAR? WITH WHOM? SAME RULES! DON’T SEE BETTER SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE, IF U DO PLS SPECIFY. NO LUXURY TAXES, EVER! NO CONTRACT BUYOUTS. NO PAYING DRAFT SIGNING BONUSES HIGHER THAN GUIDELINES(SLOTTING)!
I DEFEND OMAR BASED UPON WHAT HE’S DONE WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS SET. NONE OF THESE ARE NEW RULES. HAVE APPLIED FOR YEARS & WIN% HIGHEST UNDER OMAR OVER PAST DOZEN YRS. GOT TO BE RELEVANT & IN FRONT TO MANAGE A COLLAPSE. NO POST CASHEN TEAM EVER HAD THAT POSITION.
Why do these guys still have jobs? what else do they need to screw up to convince the Wilpons they need to be fired?
Yes, Minaya and Manuel deserve a lot of the blame but lets not leave out WORTHLESS WARTHEN! Part of a pitching coach’s job is to advise the management on pitcher status, not to mention fix flaws and DEVELOP the younger pitchers. He has done NOTHING and needs to GO!!!! Bring back Peterson. Who cares if he’s not warm and cuddly and isn’t buddy-buddy with his players. At least he had a philosophy and a plan.
TOM, EITHER YOU’RE SIMPLE MINDED OR VERY NEW HERE; BUT IT’S GENERALLY KNOWN THAT MY USE OF CAPSLOCK IS AS A DISABILITY ACCOMODATION & YOUR MOCKING RETURN USE WAS UNAPPRECIATED. RE. FAULT FOR PITCHING INJURED SANTANA, I’M GOING TO ASSUME THE SIMPLE MINDED CHARACTERISTIC FOR YOU AND SIMPLY SAY THIS” FOLLOW THE MONEY” WHO’S THE ONLY ONE TO BENEFIT BY SANTANA STARTING? OMAR, JERRY, OWNERSHIP? ATTENDANCE = MONEY. THAT’S AS EASY AS I CAN DRAW IT OUT WITHOUT A COMPLETE HISTORY LESSON!
regardless of your situation, it does not give you the right to be rude and personally attack people because they disagree with your point of view.
Its horrible, but its not his shoulder, just his elbow so really he will be back in full shape next season
The mets just cared about the tickets. Pitch Pitch Pitch so we can keep generating attendance, and fuck the players.
Its also the mets fans fault for going to the games and filling the seats when mets management did nothing to please us fan, yet you, yes you, cause I dont, (I live in GA, but when the mets came down here to play the braves, I thought about going to a game, then I remembered that I particularly dont wanna see our AAA lineup and shell out bucks for that shit) keep shelling the cash.
Its wilpon/omars fault for
a) Handing aberrations of contracts that will tie the payroll for a very long time
b) Letting injured players play because they are the only players worth watching
The elbow can be just as devastatingly bad as the shoulder if it is “Tommy John” surgery that is required. If it is a case of bone spurs then he could be ready by spring training or the first part of the season.
It could be nothing and hopefully it is but concerning injuries to the Mets this season when there is smoke there is usually a fire and not just any fire, more like a blazing, raging, 5-alarm fire.
I hope its not something beyond this or else Johan will be out for 2010 and Mets faithful will be devastated. Someone fired the trainers and doctors please.
NOTE TO TOM K.: BRING BACK PETERSON? ARE YOU NUTS? DEATHWISH? YANKEE OR PHILLIE FAN? PETERSON JETTISONED KAZMIR,BANNISTER,LINSTRUM,BELL,OWENS SINCE HE HAD ULTIMATE UNQUESTIONABLE CONTROL OVER ALL PITCHING RELATED ITEMS INCL PERSONNEL. OMAR & DUQUETTE HAD TO ACTUALLY MAKE THE DEALS AS OFFICIAL GMs(NO ONE ELSE HAS A SEPERATE PITCHING GM) WHO WOULD U ASSESS BLAME TO FOR PELFREY’S BEING CHANGED TO CONTACT PITCHER FROM COLLEGE POWER K PITCHER? OR MAINE’S LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE? OLLIE’S NOT KNOWING DIFFERENCE BET WOOD & TILE? TOM, EITHER U R 12 YRS OLD OR A MET ENEMY.
There’s no need to get personal. I didn’t attack you so don’t attack me. Whether it’s Peterson or someone else, the Mets need a REAL pitching coach. And by the way, I am 53.
Also.. Kazmir is now not even the third best pitcher on the Rays staff and the injury concerns are now real. Lindstrom has been injured and inconsistent most of his career. What was he, 27 when we traded him? Owens is back in AA and is 30. Bannister is just an OK pitcher, nothing great. Most everybody agreed at the time that we needed to add a power pitcher to the BP. Too bad he turned out to be scum. As for Bell, yeah he turned out to be a good closer but frankly I could care less about a guy who straight up admitted he didn’t care if he won the game, even if it was “just” an All-Star Game. And Perez and Maine had their best years under Peterson. We need a REAL pitching coach.
TOM,I APOLOGIZE, DIDN’T MEAN TO ATTACK YOU; JUST YOUR ADVOCATION FOR PETERSON. ACTUALLY, MY PREFERENCE WOULD BE FOR A TOTALLY NEW FACE WITH A STRONG PERSONALITY AND AN APPROACH THAT MAY IMPROVE THE WEAK MINDED OF PELFREY,MAINE,PEREZ. MY PERSONAL REFERENCE WOYULD BE FOR FORMER PITCHER, MIKE MARSHALL. UNLIKE PETERSON, MIKE ACTUALLY DID SUCCESSFULLY PITCH IN MLB. MY CONCERN RE. WARTHEN IS THAT HE WAS PETERSON APPROVED & SIGNED ON TO TEACH PETERSON’S METHODS IN MINORS. PETERSON, IN MY OPINION, PREACHED A STYLE TO MANAGE MISTAKES BY THROWING GB, INSTEAD OF OVERCOMING BATTERS WITH HIGH HEAT WHEN AVAILABLE/POSSIBLE.
Deathwise? Huh, the Mets are already dead!
This is quite a blow if Santana was to miss next season. Lets pray for the best. The way the Mets handled their two most valuable commodities is shameful. First Beltran, now Santana. Those two represent 25% of the Mets payroll. How shameful and irresponsible. By the way, I’m 59 and it’s nice to see some of my contemporaries on this site.
OKay, I saw this news yesterday and was stunned. I felt sick. A few hours later I got mad. The way Jerry was talking in the press confrence he acted like he knew that Johan was in discomfort since the all star break. I know that Johan is too big of a man to say anything and I certainly feel that we still would not have known if we were still in the running for even the WC. Why did they keep letting him pitch if they knew somthing was wrong? HOnestly, I don’t know what to make of this “medical” staff.
i think that santana just kinda shrugged it off like he didnt want to tell anyone one i dont know sure they knew it was discomfort and yes they should of done an MRI but i believe manuel when he said “i didnt know it was that bad”
The fact that manuel knew and did nothing is indicative of just how much he lacks in judgement. It is his responsibility to look out for his team, and he should have exercised more caution when it comes to players with Santana’s caliber. Any pain in the pitching arm should be evauluated and taken seriously. A simple MRI would’ve been priceless compared to a worst case scenerio here.
Mike- it isn’t (and shouldn’t be) up to the player to decide when/if he needs an MRI. It’s a non-invasive procedure that should have been done as soon as Johan started having pain. Better to rule out a problem with a negative MRI, or give a player with inflammation a start or two off, than to sit back and keep him working not know why he is having pain. It is inexcusable that everyone from the pitching staff, trainers, medical staff, chose to ignore the fact that Johan was too sore to pitch between games and allow him to continue to start.
Simple, they let him play to keep the attendance up. After all, the Wilpons need the money to feed their bad investments.
But give props to Phil Hoops who pointed out that Rick Peterson was the one who earlier this season pointed out that Johan Santana looked like a guy who was pitching hurt. He got slammed in the press and here for that. Rick Peterson was right.
So we have no number 1, no number 2, no number 3…does pelfrey count as a number 4?? hahahaha
Who pitches now?? They let Livan go…even if he is a bumber 7?
Do any of the position players have pitching experience?
What is the rotation now? Pelfrey, Perez, Parnell, Redding, Figueroa?
Is it that bad? Did I miss anybody?
Well, one thing learned in Battle Creek was- Tim Redding is NOT a starter. He gets so worked up the day before he knows he is starting that he can’t sleep, throws up, etc. As a relief and closer he was fine. Now, I have seen him start and play fine but I have also seen him start and it was a disaster. So I hope the “brains” don’t try to put him back in as a regular starter.
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