Santana: Don't count me out yet
BY DAVID LENNON
PORT ST. LUCIE – Johan Santana completed his 46-pitch bullpen session this morning and refused to close the door on a possible Opening Day start – even though the calendar suggests otherwise.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen mapped out a schedule on Tuesday that had Santana lined up to likely start the fifth game of the regular season, April 11, against the Marlins in Miami. But Santana, despite the delay cause by the tightness in his left elbow, looked strong this morning and indicated that it his “mindset” remains focused on Opening Day.
Even so, neither Santana nor Warthen would provide any specifics today, and insisted that the progress of the $137.5-miilion ace will be evaluated on a day-by-day basis. The plan remains for Santana to make his first Grapefruit League start on March 18, and if needs the standard four starts beyond that, Opening Day is pretty much wiped out.
“You know what, we’re in this thing together and have to take care of everything,” Santana said.
“I appreciate everything [Warthen] is doing. He’s trying to protect me and the team. But as of right now my mindset is Opening Day.
“We’ve got to go one day at a time and see what’s going on. We’re making improvement, making progress, every time, every day, and we’re on the right track. It’s not like we’re getting any setbacks or anything.”
That’s the bottom line with Santana, who is working his way back from a three-day break caused by his elbow scare. The first step was Sunday’s 35-pitch bullpen session, and today was another positive development, as Santana added breaking pitches along with his fastball and changeup. But after essentially pulling the plug on Opening Day, Warthen was not about to think too far in the future.
“I don’t know what ahead of schedule means,” Warthen said. “He threw the ball really well today.”
As for Santana, he went as far as to suggest that he could modify his schedule to be ready for Opening Day. But it was his rushed preparation for the World Baseball Classic that got him into this mess in the first place, so messing around with his schedule again seems like a bad idea.
“I’m a professional,” Santana said. “I know exactly what it takes for me to be ready. I’ve been doing this for years now. I know exactly what I have to do. And I’m pretty sure I’ll be ready for Opening Day.”
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Comments (6)
Johan is the man! He doesn't want to let us down, opening day seems like a big deal to him, and if he feels he can make it then let him! There's still over a month left to get ready. David just wanted to say awesome job covering the mets! I enjoy reading your work, keep up the outstanding work man
I am absolutely amazed that the Mets haven't had him go in for an MRI or something. They are content with just playing it by ear with a $137-million investment. Unbelievable. With that being said I could care less if he pitches the opener or not all I care about is that he pitches this year, because if he doesn't this team isn't going anywhere.
If Johan doesn't start until April 11 in Florida, the plus side is that he'll open in warm weather, which might help him. The negative side is that the last pre-season game will be April 4, at Citi vs the Red Sox, meaning he'll have 6 days' rest.
In any case, I just hope he's OK and ready to go in the 1st week.
Mets management is clueless, you can not trust a player in this situation. Get the damn MRI already, before his arm blows up in a game and we lose him for the season.
How could it hurt? Did the Wilpon's lose that much money in the pyramid scheme that they can not afford an MRI??
EN0mU9
EN0mU9