Mets injured ace, Johan Santana, who is rehabbing in St. Lucie as he continues his comeback from capsular shoulder surgery, told the . NY Post that he is on schedule for a September return to the big league.
I was told by Dr. David Altchek this was going to take up to a year, so it’s going to take me to Sept. 14,” said Santana, who underwent surgery on that date last year to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. “If I come back sooner, that would be great. If not, we’ll be fine. [Altchek] said there might be a possibility to come back within 10 months, but that was just a possibility. That was not a fact.”
The Mets denied a report last night that Santana’s season debut could come on Aug. 21 at Citi Field, and said no schedule has been set.
Santana still has two years and $55 million remaining on his contract after this season, and said he doesn’t agree with the “notion he needs to pitch major league games this season for the sake of putting the surgery behind him.”
Okay then… I still say we need a top flight starter in this rotation and I’m not counting on Johan to be that caliber pitcher until he gets on a mound and proves it.
That said, I expect to hear the same old Minaya mantra that Johan will be our ace starter next season which is simply a function of how much he gets paid and not because he actually is an ace in the here and now.
There is no telling how good Santana will be when he returns, so despite what you hear from the Mets, douse it with a healthy dose of reality.
