Quote: Santana doing well, Hopes for WBC
Johan Santana talked this morning with reporters during a conference call, and said he would love to play in World Baseball Classic.
However, he first needs to see how his knee responds in spring training.
Santana had arthroscopic surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
“The WBC will be a medical decision,” he said, “and the team will need to approve it… There are a lot of things here that the Mets want to protect, and if they don’t want me to play I will not play.”
Santana said he has yet to pitch in a game since September, so he needs to see how he develops when he starts working out in spring training, i.e., ‘one step at a time,’ as he put it.
He feels he will be ready to play in the WBC, “but at this point I don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
Minaya told him that if everything goes right, he can play – if not, he said, “they will not let me go.”
Santana said he has kept up his conditioning during the off-season, riding the bike and not putting too much pressure on his knee, while keeping on the program that was given to him by the trainers and doctors.
He said he has been doing everything this off-season that he normally does, adding, ‘I’ve actually been doing more.”
Santana says he expects to start throwing next week, while playing catch and long toss, which is his normal routine.
