14
2011
The Song Remains The Same On Santana, Despite Mets Denials
An article by 
Update 3/14 10:00 AM
Steve Popper of the Bergen Record stands by what his Mets source told him regarding the possibility of Johan Santana potentially being shutdown due to soreness and perhaps lost for the season. Regardless of what you believe I can respect him for sticking to his story which may not be as far fetched as some would think. He writes,
If you go back to the story from Sunday’s Record, I think you’ll see it played out fairly accurately – despite the screams of protest from the Mets. What the story said is that a source claimed that Santana was feeling discomfort during his rehab work and that if that continued to the next workout the Mets were considering shutting him down. Santana did admit Sunday that he saw a rehab doc who reassured him that the concerns – soreness – were normal.
Does the soreness mean that Santana will be shut down? Not now. But do the denials mean that Santana will be back in mid-June to early-July like the Mets want to maintain? Just take a look at the recovery times for every other Mets injury and take a guess. Denial is the default setting for the organization – clearly above Sandy Alderson since the response has been exactly the same with this regime as the prior one – right down to the insistence that the comeback will be like a great trade at midseason.
Original Post 3/13 4:00 PM
When it comes to injuries, especially to the shoulders of pitchers, always bet the over. That’s my feeling after Mets pitcher Johan Santana refuted a published report his season could be in jeopardy.
Santana turned 32 today, and naturally the Mets are concerned about his recovery from surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. They’ve been worried since he walked off the mound last summer in pain, and it being his birthday simply makes it a logical time to revive the issue.
“We’re right on the right track,’’ Santana told reporters today. “Whoever is saying I’m not ready, I think is lying. We are all on the same page here. … How can you have a setback at this point, where I’m just beginning to throw? I haven’t even got on the mound. I haven’t even forced my body to try to throw hard.’’
We knew from the outset the recovery would be painful with no real timetable. There are always setbacks and days when Santana might feel better than others.
In addition to what Santana said, pitching coach Dan Warthen is putting a positive spin on things, but even so we must remember Sandy Alderson’s plan for him to throw off the mound by May 1 and be ready around the All-Star break is one of guarded optimism.
The clock won’t start until he gets off the mound, and even then, nothing is for certain.
Realistically, the Mets don’t know about Santana this season. How can they with so much murky water they are wading through? This is a new injury for Santana and nobody knows how his body will respond. Traditionally, with other pitchers, this is a difficult injury from which to recover.
The Mets can’t give up on Santana for 2011 because they’d like to know what they can expect from him for next year. Even so, they won’t push him as to risk a re-injury.
Santana might have been miffed his return this season is being questioned, but truth is we don’t know if he’ll ever be Johan Santana again.
We just don’t know how the rest of his career will play out, but the Mets must be smart about this and plan for the end and regard any return as a bonus.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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|---|---|---|---|---|
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I went back and did some reseach on the articles about his operation, how the procedure went, and players that have had similar operations..thers’s a really low probibility he wont come back just as good, there’s actually a better chance he comes back better, many of the quailty picthcer,s have (Al Leiter was an example) had best seasons after this type surgery. His age, 32, is pretty young imo. i dont think age is a factor. Given Santanas exceptional ability to come back from basic elbow scopes and his competitve nature i’m very optimistic about a strong return.
Is the timetable difficult ?? Absolutely. Does any Met fan really want to rush him back before he’s ready, no way. They are not going to be aggresive with his return, when he’s ready, he’s ready, period. Whether it’s Ju;ly 15 or Aug 15 i think the important thing is he comes back healthy, healthy will equal fronline starter. And all indications are that he will be !! The only instances i could see him coming back ‘early’ would be if we’re in first or vying for it(and maybe there’s an injury and need a start), and instead of rehab pitch count out of bullpen they let him pitch his say 75-pitch count in game. Even in that instance, it moves his return up a week or 2 best..
Im going into this season thinking Pelf, RA, Neise, CYong and Cap, DGee poss Mejia if injuries..if we’re competitve, what a great boost Sanatna will be. This is just one storyline in a season where Mets have potential of $50+ million comin off payroll, we’ll just have to stay tuned this season!!
It’s not the point that he may be right, it’s the point that he has nothing to hold him accountable and is basically click mongering.
Amazing Mets nailed it: “Some random person associated with the Mets thinks that if things start going really badly in Santana’s recovery that’d he’ll be asked to slow down the rehab timetable.” Well, duh.
I dont know what you mean by click mongering, but Steve Popper is the only beat writer that loves the Mets as much as we do. He has deep sources withing the organization. You can’t just say he has no accountability when his integrity has never been in question and he is not required to share the name of his sources with fans. All reporters have sources and if not for those sources there would be no need for blogs like this one to diseect each new day of news. Calling him out for not revealing a source is unreasonable. If he did that he would lose access to all his sources. A good reporter knows better than to do that.
I don’t think he’s being called out for not exposing his sources, I think it’s more that his first report was “Inside Mets source says Johan’s rehab hit a snag and he could be shut down for the season” and now he’s like “Hah! I nailed it! I totally said that Johan was experiencing some soreness, which is normal in rehabilitation and IF this soreness doesn’t go away it COULD effect his rehab program!”
The Mets weren’t denying the fact that Johan was sore, they were denying all of the assumptions that were printed based on the fact that Johan was sore.
I’m not saying Johan will be back by May or anything, just to be clear (I’m not even saying he’ll definitely be back for 2011). Popper just made a leap based on a quote, the Mets said “no that’s not correct,” and now he’s trying to use that fact to reinforce his argument. Notice he keeps saying “deny” instead of “refute.” VERY different connotations.
Of course Kranepool, he can make accusations against the beat writer. After all the beat writer can lose his job for doing a bad job. Here, you can only be one of the annointed Sandy is god people. Funny, a guy writing in total anonymity accuses a guy who has a job on the line of click mongering. The posters here are becoming more lunatic with every bit of news that proves Alderson is just another Wilpon tool.
Of course Harry C, we can make comments about each other in total anonymity. Isn’t that what you are doing here?
Also, isn’t that what is great about blogging in general? The fact that we can analyze these reports and assess their validity for ourselves? Or are we just here to pretend we are more rational than the other posters? Perhaps calling them out for commenting and wasting work time while doing the same thing themselves.
The only tool around here is you. We get it, clearly, you are willing to bash a new GM before a pitch is even thrown in the regular season. What makes you such a genius, because you say so?
Keep up the insults, that’s all you know, because it’s crystal clear you DO NOT know the game of baseball.
Sensationalism. Seeking clicks on a doomsday story that actually has no meat to the story at all.
Again, what does it say? That if Johan has any setbacks they will shut him down? Well duh.
Agreed. This is a non-story.
Exactly.
I second that.
It’s not sensationalism,
In Media we can it beating the grass!
Beat the grass with an anonymous source to try and generate a reaction to get a comment on something no one was commenting on before.
There is no real news to report on. Mets are doing well and there is no controversy.
Writers need to meet a byline. He is a Met reporter and can not go and cover the Yankees on a whim as someone else is paid to cover them.
But the paper needs a Met story to run. It is his job to come up with one.
When nothing happens and the mets blank a team and score a bushel of runs how much can you write about that the boxscore didn’t already tell you?
SO you find someone who says Santana was a little sore. That gets quoted as a SETBACK. He was sore!!!! Thats all! Every player in camp is probably a little sore, thats WHY we have spring training to get their muscles back into playing shape and ready to stand the rigors of a full season.
Soon the story will be one or two of our starters have dead arm!
Happens to every pitcher sometime during ST and is a normal occurrance but it will be made the big story and why?
Because every writer for every paper and every radio and TV station wants to be the guy that is called to talk about his story! Makes hi boss’ happy that the paper gets extra press, it gives the writer some extra importance he normally would not have if he just wrote the mets won today and it makes HIS STORY the talk of the town!
Just as Beltran sitting out a game became a HE IS INJURED despite the fact that they were just being cautious in not over doing him so he could be ready for the regular season when things actually count!
You guys really need to stop allowing the Press and media from brainwashing you or taking everything as the gospel.
But you folks get unhinged by sketchy sources and mis reading quotes from managers who aren’t hired because of their wonderfully media savy quotes but in their ability to teach baseball players how to execute!
Saying something is EASY! reality is HARD!
Anyone can say anything and it doesn’t always coincide with the facts!
This was nothing more than a Grass Beating looking to see what snakes crawled out for the grass!
And it turns out that nothing really came of it!
Santana isn’t EXPECTED to feel good right now. And wait for it but at some point there will be a story about how he felt something that will in the end be nothing more than scar tissue lossening up and stretching.
But you can bet your last dollar that it will become a story about how Sanatana will have to retire!
Because they have to write something to justify their pay, and the more sensational or doomsday the better!
Thats the media way!
I think we basically agree. My point remains that the way he phrased a non-story was sensationalism.
Sensationalism: a manner of over-hyping events, being deliberately controversial, loud, self-centred or acting to obtain attention.
With a title like “Santana’s season may be in jeopardy” that to me is exactly what he was doing.
The difference I think is in he didn’t over hype something, it wasn’t something at all.
You make up an anon source and see if a story is there.
In the old days they used to teach a thing called Journalistic Ethics and needed to find another source to confirm a story before you could run it.
Watergate and the book All the President’s men was all about the effort to get those confirmations over what Deep Throat was saying because the Washington Post being a newsparer with journalistic integrity insisted that Woodward and Bernstien confirm what he was saying before they would print it.
Since then every reporter and journalist dreams of being the guy with the big story! Being the guy who everyone wants to talk to regarding the subject.
The Internet has ruined all journalistic integrity these days.
CNN uses Fox as a confirmation, If they hear something and Fox runs with it then they use that as independent confirmation and run with it!
For awhile these networks were even running stories from Star Magazine!
It is a sad state of affairs our Media is in and I should know I happen to work for these people!
I get your point. It really was not a story at all. It’s just when you title it and push it as “Santana’s season in jeopardy” “Mets have more problems than just 2nd base when Johan may be giving up on 2011…”
I understand what you are saying, but I have to agree with trs86 on this one. Yes Popper happens to be a Mets fan like you say, but his original headline was meant to draw attention and in fact it did. Too much of it.
“The only instances i could see him coming back ‘early’ would be if we’re in first or vying for it(and maybe there’s an injury and need a start)”
I agree with the part in parenths, but if we are competitive at all then no way they should attempt to rush him into service and instead take the cautious route.
Cause if we are competitive then the guys who are there are getting it done.
Put him on the roster in time for post season availability but do not make the mistake we made with Beltran last year and just throw him back in there.
We were in 2nd place when Beltran came back and his lack of hitting and getting adjusted time was a leading factor in our July/August fall.
The same thing could happen if we threw Santana in there and let him test things out during a pennant race. And doing that could also lead to other problems such as re-injury. We all know how much of a competitor Johan is and to have him break into the rotation during a close division race could cause him to over do the whole thing and blow the arm out entirely.
He should pitch 4 or 5 games in the Minors at minimum and then maybe make an appearance out of the pen in his first ML appearance unless the circumstances (and this is where the Parenths come in) are such that one of our starters is struggling or needs a day off because even an injured Santana will likely be as good as what WAS there.
And on the other side of the coin, If we are not in a playoff race then there is absolutly NO REASON to rush him back. Take our time and bring him up in Sept when the rosters go to 40 and let him test that shoulder for a month so we know if we can count on him in 2012.
There is no reason to rush him under any circumstances I can think of. We will either compete or not with what we have. One Pitcher sure isn’t going to change our fortunes either way but I happen to subscribe to the old notion that if it is not broke, don’t fix it!
If we are in it then wait until he has a good 4 or 5 games without incident in the Minors and if we are not then simply wait until September when the extra roster spot isn’t as important and can serve as a nice testing ground to see if we should count on him for 2012.
The hard part of that will be getting Santana to accept it.
If everyone remembers, the goal of Santana coming back by the All-Star break was based on the most optimistic results for his surgery. September, or next spring, are both much more likely outcomes. Remember how much heart Johan has already shown us. If left up to him, my guess is that he would pitch thru almost any amount of pain to get back on the field as soon as possible. Let’s hope the Mets show him more respect than to let his desire to pitch and ownership’s desire to sell tickets dictate the timing of his return. Unfortunately, I think we will see that the Wilpons’ desire to maximize profits and try to keep some piece of this team is going to override anything else. Good luck, Johan, and please listen to your doctors, not ownership!