The Mets got a bit of bad news and good news after the results of Johan Santana’s MRI came back only minutes ago.
According to a Mets press release, Johan Santana will require minor elbow surgery that will shut him down for the rest of this season. The good news is that he is expected to make a full recovery by the time pitchers and catchers report next spring.
I know surgery is never a good thing, but considering how much worse the news could have been, I think this should be well recieved by all Mets fans and that we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Johan Santana will have his elbow cleaned out to remove some small bone chips. Team doctor David Altchek examined Santana at the Hospital for Special Surgery and will perform the procedure, but no date has been announced as of yet.
Santana finishes the season with a 13-9 record and 3.13 ERA in 166 2/3 innings pitched.
As I wrote previously, he is expected to fully recover and be ready for Spring Training.
Get well soon Johan!!!
One after another, like dominoes…
This is a prime example of “When bad news is really good news” Thank God he doesn’t need ligament reconstructive surgery! Or so we are lend to believe….
As a Mets fan, I am very disturbed that a team doctor is performing Santana’s surgery. If I were Johan Santana, I would seek a second opinion and have another doctor operate on his elbow. The Mets team doctors haven’t exactly been competent this year.
This is actually a common misconception this season. It’s not the doctors that are at fault it’s the training staff. The Mets have some of the best doctors in the country if not the world, the problem is that training staff refuses to send them to the docs, instead insisting that rest and a cortisone shot will be enough for these guys. They don’t have them go to the docs for MRI’s or evaluations, they make their own.
I can’t help wondering if that is because of financials?
I’ve thought that too but I would think that ball clubs have some sort of retainer with Hospitals. The Hospital for Special Surgery is the Mets hospital, I would think it would be something like what people and organizations do with lawyers in that a Lawyer has a retainer to defend you, not paid on a case by case basis.
Is it a fact that the training staff isn’t referring injuries to the team docs? I haven’t read or heard that anywhere. If thats the case what reason would they have for not referring? Maybe the Wilpons cheaped out on their workers’ comp policy this year and have told the staff to try to treat injuries as cheaply as possible. They work under the supervision of the team MD’s. I’m sure the docs are aware of most if not all injuries, especially to multi-million dollar stars.
No one is at fault for the injuries, doctors or trainers. Its part of playing sports. It just happens to be a really bad year for the Mets in this regard. If they had a better bench and farm system, they might still be in the playoff hunt.
No, they have not paid attention to injuries on a timely basis and, by doing, that have made them worse. We see that from Reyes, Beltran, and now Santana. Three very important players that were not handled well at all. There is something wrong in the organization regarding how they handle injuries.