I PERSONALLY HAVE MY SERIOUS CONCERNS AS TO JOHAN’S SURVIVABILITY AT THAT REDUCED PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL, WHERE UNLIKE, OTHERS WHO MANAGED SUCH A DOWNGRADE LIKE EITHER HERNANDEZ BROS(LIVAN,ElDUQUE) & PEDRO; SANTANA IS NOT BLESSED WITH A PLETHORA OF OFFSPEED GYMNAASTIC PITCHES REYLYING IN THE PAST UPON HIS DEVASTATING CHANGE, A SERVICABLE CUTTER & SLIDER ALL RELYING HEAVILY UPON A MID-HIGH FASTBALL VELOCITY FOR THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. WITH HIGH 80s OR LOW 90s HEATER, OPPONENTS CAN PREPARE FOR THE OFFSPEED & ADJUST TO THAT LEVEL FASTBALL MUCH MORE COMFORTABLY.

I SINCERLY QUESTION JOHAN’S ABILITY TO ACCEPT BEING HUMBLED SO ON SUCH A HUGE STAGE AS NYC.

THIS SITUATION IS SUCH AS OUR BEST OPORTUNITY FOR MEANINGFUL CONTENTION IS UNLIKELY TO OCCUR BEFORE 2014 WHEN I ANTICIPATE SANTANA’S OPTION(25.5M) TO BE BOUGHT OUT(5.5M)
AND FOR HIS “GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME” CONTRCT TO FADE FROM SIGNIFICANCE MUCH LIKE PEDRO BEFORE HIM. JUST IN TIME FOR HIS REPLACEMENT LH ATOP THE ROTATION, NIECE, TO BE THE VETERAN NEEDED TO LEAD THE CONTINGENT OF HARVEY,WHEELER,FAMILIA,GEE WITH THEIR NEW LIGHTSOUT CLOSER, MEJIA SWEEPING UP AFTER THE BEST PRIMARILY HOMEGROWN ROTATION IN 28 YRS(1986)
NOT TO FURTHER KICK JOHAN WHEN OBVIOUSLY SO DOWNGRADED, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT IN HIS BREIF NYM CAREER, JOURNEYMAN TRACHSEL THREW MORE NEAR NO-HITTERS(2,3 ONE HITTERS) THAN SANTANA AS A MET. NOW THERE’S A CASE OF EXTREMELY HIGH RUN SUPPORT WHICH MANAGED TO ACCOUNT FOR TRACHSEL’S COMPILATION OF 15Ws(1 LESS THAN SANTANA’S NYM CAREER HIGH) IN ’06 DESPITE A NOSEBLEED ERA OVER 5.00 6+R/G WILL GET U THAT; BUT RARELY DOES ANY ACE GET THAT LEVEL OF LUXURY SUPPORT DUE TO OPPONENT’S EFFICIENCY

Johan is first and foremost a competitor. He will give that ‘little extra’ to get a batter out. He said so after his thirty three pithces. Johan pitched well but why in the world did the Mets risk JOhan’s shoulder when a bullpen session, under more controlled circumstances, would give the club’s brass all the information about Johan’s progress it needed. It doesn’t make sense unless the Mets harbored hopes of having pitch at CitiField in late August or September. If they did, that particularly would not make sense since Johan’s value is in 2012, not this year.

Suprisingly, I was actually more buoyed by Wang’s performance esp once his obvious “butterflies” began flying in formation. he was very impressive in innings 2 & 3 then with pitchcount risen tired back to susceptibility level in 4. My greatest fear Re. Santana is his closest return compasrison is more Pedro tha Wang. Yerah, I know Johan’s &
Pedro’s injuries were as comprable as Night & Day; I fear his contractual burden will force us to endure more non-responsive action to a wallowing off & on 4,5IP performance shadow of once EARLY GREATNESS, WE’VE NEBVER SEEN! A I see it, our best oportunity for contention comes when both Santana & Bay are counted along with past erstwhile acquisitions we never quite surrounded with enough to matter… PIAZZA,PEDRO, BELTRAN, DELGADO all, gave us their best; unfortunately that was never returned by ownership too meek & conservative to finish the task at hand grabbing the opoertunities presented. The Sterling Enterprise mission statement is whatever id the opposite of Carpe Diem. Ownership that too often left the job incomplete, satisfied with a veneer of excellent talent too susceptible to scratches(injuries) due to lack of quality depth for too many Seasons/drafts they saved by cutting irrigation of the farm to a mere trickle. I fear, while awaiting Santana’s #1 form to magically reappear, we’ll be doomed to starting openners with middlers just as with Pedro who was miscast,by then, as a 1A once a 1(Santana) was miraculously apropriated. So, my friends we are saddled with our own private Guffman, aka Santana, until 2013 hoping to traad water with the Young & Capuano type additions while more than $25M struggles to find itself, praying another injury doesn’t befall him while on the search. If u add Bay as one of “THE SEARCHERS” the ante is up to $41M out of proposed $120M to be spent. Supposing Reyes is retained @ apoprox $20M that’s more than half your annual payroll being spent with palpable production from only 1 payee(Reyes) No wonder Alderson’s planning to build his own topflight rotation from scratch rather than buy one he can’t possibly pay for. The great news is that come 2013 there will be a surplus of expendable payroll to accompany what should become on of the most cost efficient, dominant pitching staffs in ALL of MLB as both Santana & Bay’s onerous expenditures expire coinciding with a proper maturity scghedule for the likes of Harvery,Wheeler, Familia, Gorski & Mejia(my forcasted closer).
My friends it’s certainly likely to get darker before it gets lighter; however that light we glimpse down the tunnel is the onrushing finacial freedom from Minaya’s drunken sailor binge spending & not an onrushing train.

wang was never near santana prior to their surgeries, and really they are completely different types of pitchers.

It is true that they both had capsule injuries. But we already knew that shoulder injuries are much more troubling for pitchers than elbow injuries. Everyone knows,even if they never heard of Chien-Ming Wang, that Santana has suffered a very serious injury and that a complete return to form is doubtful if not improbable.

In addition, I’d also point out that, for his first start in over two years, Wang was not that bad, especially after what was obviously a very nervous first inning for him. He threw some hard sinkers that had good movement and a few decent sliders.

The more salient point seems to me that Santana’s rehab seems to have proceeded more efficiently than Wang’s. Santana stands a good chance of making his first MLB start only a year after being shut down. There’s no reason to assume that one pitcher’s recovery story tells us much if anything about the other’s.