Major League Baseball

Mets should tell truth about Santana

Published Mar. 14, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Bob Klapisch

The Mets were busy this weekend refuting suggestions that Johan Santana's recovery from shoulder surgery is in peril. From the GM, to the manager and pitching coach, all the way to the disabled pitcher himself, the response to a story in the Bergen Record was quick and unanimous: denial.

According to the report, Santana has experienced continuing discomfort in his left shoulder while playing catch and the Mets were considering suspending the prescribed throwing program, at least temporarily. If so, Santana's projected return to the rotation — currently set for July — would almost certainly be pushed back.

While the Mets insisted Santana has had no specific setbacks in camp — pitching coach Dan Warthen said the pitcher is actually "ahead of schedule" — Santana admitted to reporters he is, indeed, sore. He's spoken to the team's physical therapists to ask whether this discomfort is unusual or alarming.

Santana was assured the pain is "normal" for the post-op rehab. Yet, it persists, which is why one member of the organization told the Record the Mets could, conceivably, shut Santana down as a precaution.

The touch-and-go nature of his rehab is the basis of a more realistic internal assessment of Santana's 2011 return. The source said the Mets privately believe they'd be "lucky" get their ace back this year.

None of this should be surprising, given the type of surgery Santana underwent last fall. Doctors operated to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder — a procedure that was complicated by their inability to reach the affected area with a mere arthroscope. Instead, Dr. David Altchek had to make a full incision near the tear.

That's the same procedure that Mark Prior and Chien-Ming Wang have undergone — and neither one has pitched in a major league game since.

"Anytime you open the shoulder, you have to makes cuts in the tissue and that causes scarring," Dr. Craig Levitz told the New York Times last November.

Levitz, an New York-based orthopedic surgeon who consulted on Santana's operation, believes the lefthander can be expected to do "fairly well" in his healing. Nevertheless, he said, surgery of this type, "does make you worry a little bit more."

No wonder the Mets are so touchy about Santana's status: the franchise is bogged down in a public-relations nightmare, courtesy of Bernie Madoff. The Wilpon family had to ask for an emergency $25 million loan from Bud Selig to meet their operating costs — and that's aside from the $1 billion they're being sued for in bankruptcy proceedings.

What the Mets need, desperately, is to get off to a fast start in April and sell tickets. No revelation there: To say the Wilpons are pressed for cash is like figuring out Charlie Sheen is nuts. That's why a leak of any kind regarding Santana's health was met with such forceful denials. The timing couldn't be any worse, as the team is putting single-game tickets on sale today.

The Mets have urgently pressed their marketing agenda on anyone who'll listen this spring: we're going to surprise the NL East, is the post-Madoff company line. To do so, however, requires a semi-significant contribution from Santana, the only reliable asset the Mets have in the coming wars against Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, among others.

Only, what discerning Mets fan really thinks the ace will be an integral part of the 2011 season? Wang, for instance, is a year younger than Santana and has thrown 1,238 fewer innings in the big leagues. Yet, the Nationals say the best-case scenario for the Chinese right hander's return is early May. If so, that would represent a 20-month absence from the big leagues.

Santana was operated on last September, which is why many experts scoffed at the suggestion of a mid-season comeback. The Mets, after all, have a sorry history of under-reporting injuries, or overstating rehab projections. Carlos Beltran is the most recent example of a franchise guardian hurrying back to save the Mets. Yet, with pain in both knees, the slugger has yet to play in the field in a spring training game.

So, other than wishful thinking, what's the point of banking on a miracle from Santana?

Certainly, he has nothing to prove to the Mets or their fans. Injuries aside, he's been a star, as advertised, a positive force in the clubhouse, the most dominant ace since Dwight Gooden in his heyday. But at 32, Santana can't escape the ravages of time, or the surcharge from the 1,146.2 innings he threw between 2004-2008.

Santana is no longer a young man, not by baseball's biological clock, and he's going to be pitching with a rebuilt arm. This isn't to say he can't beat the odds, however. Teammates say Santana is a fierce, hard worker, and has a limitless supply of resolve. He wants to prove doubters wrong — indeed, he said on Sunday that anyone who thinks his rehab is behind is "lying."

Even so, the Mets would be wise to acknowledge how delicate and incremental recovery from these surgeries can be. Instead of teasing fans , the Mets could generate good will by walking a straight line towards the truth.

They could start with this: Santana's career isn't over, not by a longshot. But 2012, not 2011, is the realistic target.

Or as Santana himself admitted to the New York Post, "(a return) could take up to a year. I'm aware of that."

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball