Updated on 3/30
Johan Santana has decided that he will continue his career and has elected to undergo surgery to repair the torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder, according to the team.
This essentially means that Santana will miss all of the 2013 season.
With no insurance to save them, the Mets will owe Santana $25.5 million for the rest of this season and an additional $5.5 million to buyout his 2014 option.
Apparently, pitching coach Dan Warthen has been trying to reach out to Santana though he’s been unsuccessful. He says he’s “sick over what happened.”
I think we all are.
Original Post 3/29
Sandy Alderson has announced during a conference call last night carried on SNY, that Johan Santana has a probable re-tear of his anterior capsule in his left shoulder and will likely miss the rest of the season.
The team said Thursday that the two-time Cy Young Award winner probably has re-torn the anterior capsule in his left shoulder and likely will need a second operation that would sideline him for the entire season. Santana missed 2011 following his first shoulder surgery.
“I am not a doctor, nor am I a medical historian, but these injuries are very difficult to recover from after one surgery, and I’m not sure what the history is of recovery from a second more or less identical surgery,” general manager Sandy Alderson said on a conference call.
Santana had surgery on Sept. 14, 2010, and did not make it back to the majors until last April 5. He went 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA in 21 starts last year and threw the first no-hitter in franchise history on June 1 against St. Louis.
He went on the disabled list for three weeks because of a sprained ankle and didn’t pitch after Aug. 17 because of lower back inflammation.
Santana hasn’t pitched in any exhibition games during spring training because of arm weakness, and he threw his last bullpen session in early March without the team’s permission.
“We don’t know when it happened, how it happened,” Alderson said. “But what we do know is that at some point symptoms appeared and they worsened rather than improved.
Santana is due $31 million between this season and his buyout, and according to Adam Rubin, his 2013 salary is not insured.
Alderson said the Mets do not know when the injury first occurred and that he will not pursue additional pitching to replace Santana for the season.
Santana was examined by Dr. David Altchek, who consulted with Dr. James Andrews, in New York. Santana will now take the weekend to mull over his options as no surgery date has been scheduled.
Neither he or his Peter Greenberg offered any comment or have yet to address the media yet.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Well ever since December I’ve suspected something was wrong. He did not keep in touch with the Mets trainers. He failed to appear at several events he was scheduled to be on hand for. He showed up on the exact second of the reporting deadline and not a second earlier. He was pitching on the backfields rather than doing regular bullpens. The front office were monitoring his activity. Lots of wrong signals.
As John and then myself agreed, it looked like Santana was all wrong right from the start. And his stunt of going on the mound and pitching all-out to prove he was healthy, could have been career suicide. Guess what? It was.
So now what?
Nothing, that’s what.
The Mets lost two aces from the 2012 season, Zack Wheeler will not be called up early and probably the end of May and only if he’s pitching well.
Kevin Burkhardt says the Mets should call him up and that he’s ready for the majors. Unfortunately, Kevin is a roving reporter for SNY and not a pitching coach, so comments like that only confuse the fans.
All told, Santana is owed $31 million dollars. Wow… No insurance. Double wow…
He will have been paid $142 million as a Mets for a total of 109 starts.
