Results tagged ‘ Johan Santana ’
The scene: Santana, Wheeler throw off flat ground
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Projecting the Opening Day roster, 3/5
Some tweaks from last week. I’m going out on a limb and projecting Johan Santana to open the regular season on the disabled list, even though that may not be the case. If it is, that would presumably bump Jeremy Hefner out of Triple-A and into the rotation. The result:
C : John Buck
1B: Ike Davis
2B: Daniel Murphy
SS: Ruben Tejada
3B: David Wright
OF: Lucas Duda
OF: Kirk Nieuwenhuis
OF: Marlon Byrd
Bench: Collin Cowgill
Bench: Mike Baxter
Bench: Justin Turner
Bench: Brandon Hicks
Bench: Anthony Recker
SP: Shaun Marcum
SP: Jon Niese
SP: Matt Harvey
SP: Dillon Gee
SP – Jeremy Hefner
RP: Bobby Parnell (CL)
RP: Brandon Lyon
RP: Scott Atchison
RP: LaTroy Hawkins
RP: Josh Edgin
RP: Greg Burke
RP: Robert Carson
DL: Frank Francisco, Johan Santana
In the running: C Landon Powell, 1B Josh Satin, INF Zach Lutz, INF Brian Bixler, INF/OF Jordany Valdespin, OF Andrew Brown, OF Matt den Dekker, RHP Jenrry Mejia, RHP Jeurys Familia, RHP Collin McHugh, RHP Elvin Ramirez, RHP Carlos Torres, LHP Aaron Laffey, LHP Pedro Feliciano, LHP Darin Gorski.
(You may notice that I have yet to take Grapefruit League stats into account in this projection. I just don’t think the sample size is big enough to warrant inclusion at this point, though I may start skewing toward statistical favorites next week.)
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When will Johan make his season debut?
There seems to be plenty of opinions on when Johan Santana will make his 2013 season debut, now that the Mets are delaying his spring training schedule by more than a week. So I pose the question to you: when will Santana debut?
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Santana returns to mound; all is well in Port St. Lucie (except for the weather)
It’s actually quite pleasant here today, with temperatures hovering in the low- to mid-50s. But plenty of players and reporters were griping about the cold in Port St. Lucie, where the Mets pushed their workout back two hours on account of the temperature.
When the Mets finally did don their uniforms, Johan Santana took the mound for his first bullpen session since last August. He threw approximately 20 pitches, (of which I managed to capture one on my new Instagram account), and expressed — what else? — optimism afterward.
Some additional photographs from Santana’s session are below:
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Healthy and optimistic, Johan reports to camp
Here are some shots of a healthy Johan Santana, who threw off flat ground today in what he considers a normal, healthy progression for this time of year:
Santana later met with the media, saying his 2012 season “ended up in a way that I didn’t want it to.” The Mets shut Santana down in August as he battled a number of physical maladies, including the aftereffects of an ankle sprain, a bout of lower back inflammation and some general fatigue in his first season back from left shoulder surgery.
This summer, Santana hopes, will be different.
“What’s important right now is to stay healthy,” the left-hander said. “Being able to go there every five games, that’s what I want to do. And I’m hoping to do it throughout the whole season.”
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Santana eyes WBC while Mets remain cautious
Johan Santana has been working out recently with the intention of being in good enough shape to join Team Venezuela for next month’s World Baseball Classic. Now nearly two-and-a-half years removed from shoulder surgery, he is healthy and the Mets plan to treat him like any other pitcher this spring.
But insurance obstacles could prove prohibitive in his quest to compete on an international stage. Because Santana finished last season on the disabled list, the Classic must be willing to insure the $31 million remaining on his contract for him to compete.
Even if Santana clears that hurdle, the Mets could ask him not to participate, as many teams do for older players — particularly for pitchers, and certainly for pitchers with his recent history of arm trouble.
Asked directly about the situation, general manager Sandy Alderson said he would not open that can of worms unless Santana approached the Mets asking to play. So far, the left-hander has not done so. But a second tour of duty for Venezuela — Santana played in 2006, but sat out 2009 while recovering from knee surgery — seems unlikely.
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La Russa: Collins did “the right thing” during Johan’s no-hitter
Not long after Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history, former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called Terry Collins to share his thoughts on the game — including the decision to leave Santana and his surgically-repaired left shoulder in for a career-high 134 pitches. La Russa discussed the genesis of that phone call Wednesday:
“I happened to be in New York and I watched every pitch even though I wasn’t at the ballpark,” La Russa said. “The thing starts developing and since I’m not in it, I watch these games and try to put myself in each manager’s shoes. I was managing for Mike [Matheny] and I was managing for Terry. All of the sudden you have what was really, clearly a terrific dilemma.
“I could just tell by looking at his face. He was really grinding on it, and I know the pitching coach was. They wanted to do the right thing. What’s the right thing? It was a really tough call, and they’re worried about his health first and foremost. I just knew what he was going through and it was really quick. When he got the last out, if you look at his face, he was the only guy in the ballpark that was not cheering and celebrating. I knew it was because he had doubts about pushing it.
“I just called for whatever my opinion was worth. I think we were raised the same way about protecting pitchers and caring for them. But I just think the sense of history and the drama. I saw him talk to [Santana] a couple of times. I’m sure he said he’s good to go. So as long as he did that, in my opinion, he had done the right thing. And then I read his comments and I knew that he was still beating himself up, and he was going to want and see how he came out of that. I just wanted him to know before he ever found out if Johan’s got some extra stiffness and soreness, in my opinion, he did the right thing.”
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Ozzie: Santana is the reason I got fired
Asked today how well he knows Johan Santana, Marlins (and former White Sox) manager Ozzie Guillen responded with this riff:
“Santana is the reason I got fired. I gave Santana his award; the Cy Young award belongs to the White Sox. If you take Santana’s wins against the White Sox when he won the Cy Young, he don’t win any Cy Young. That’s six, seven wins. Santana, he’s one of the best lefties I’ve ever seen. I see him very good. I saw him, like I made a comment the last time we faced him, since Santana was pitching bad, as soon as he sees me, back to normal. … He sees my face, there we go, nine-inning shutout. What can I say about this kid? He’s a hard-worker, he takes a lot of pride in his job, he loves to compete and he loves to win. That’s all I can say, because I’ve seen him for a long time and I’ve seen him on the top of his game. I don’t see anything better. He throws 95-96 and his changeup is 78, and breaking ball is 84. He’s been competing against good pitching staffs and good hitting teams and he’s still one of the best lefties in the game the last 10 years, maybe more than that.”
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Report from Port St. Lucie, 4/1
Unless you’re R.A. Dickey, who received two stitches on the right heel after being spiked in Sunday’s game, it was a good day to be a Mets starting pitcher. It was a good day to be a left-handed Mets starting pitcher, at least. The team named Johan Santana its Opening Day starter, then news broke that Jon Niese is in serious talks to sign a pre-arbitration contract extension.
As for me, I’m heading home for a few days of rest before Opening Day. Check back here for plenty of updates then.
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Report from Port St. Lucie, 3/31
The last major test of spring is in the books for Johan Santana, who said he felt “great” after throwing a bullpen session Saturday at Port St. Lucie (pictures below). Assuming his shoulder is not barking when he wakes up Sunday, or during a more routine bullpen session Monday, Santana will start Opening Day against the Braves on April 5.
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