Update, 10:31 am:
According to the Back Page Blog, Santana has been through this before, then went on to go 20–6 with a 2.61 ERA.
…thanks to mike b for the link…
Update, 10:07 am:
“Johan Santana tossed a 46-pitch bullpen session Wednesday and then predicted he would take the ball on Opening Day in Cincinnati on April 6,” writes Adam Rubin in a post to his blog for the Daily News.
Rubin also provides a variety of quotes from Santana, as well as pitching coach Dan Warthen.
“We are in this thing together, and I appreciate everything he’s doing,” Santana is quoted as saying. “He’s trying to protect me and the team, of course. But as of right now, my mindset is for Opening Day.”
David Lennon of Newsday adds that Santana used his change-up, fastball and slider, “which was a step up from Sunday’s outing, and his velocity looked good.”
Originan Post:
Johan Santana will throw a side session in the bullpen today, around 9:30 am, with the goal of exceeding more than 30 pitches.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Santana will be pushed back, and make his first regular-season start on April 11.
…good… why raise expectations, unnecessarily, only to disappoint… fact is, it makes no difference when he makes his first start, so long as he makes the rest of his starts… i mean, in September, when he’s pitching against the Phillies and contending for a Cy Young, is any one going to care or even remember when his first start of the season was… no… all that matters is that he’s healthy and available all year long…
…frankly, the other story here is that nobody trusts the Mets when it comes to their public medical information… i think last season’s slow, downward-spiral-of-news – regarding Billy Wagner and Ryan Church – has left most fans and all media very, very skeptical of what is said by the Mets with regards to injuries… so, it’s understandable that every one is obessing about santana… we’re not obsessing specifically about Opening Day… we’re obsessing over the injury, for fear that we will eventually be told the elbow injury is more serious than it is…
…in other words, today’s side session is huge… because, the best way to deal with this is to take it one step at a time…
{ 171 comments }
Why not tinker it a little bit and make him start on the Home Opener?
Maybe it’s all just part of a marketing ploy????
PS. I don’t really believe that
lets just hope noone else gets hurt
we have no capable MLB starters we can replace them with
Most teams don’t.
but the winning teams do
Yeah, every team has a backlog of solid starters in case of injuries, along with their benches full of all-stars.
again with the bench full of all-stars. where did i say that?
all of our backups are not capable of starting everyday. What other potential playoff teams have that problem?
Agree with oleo, we may have the weakest bench of all the contender..
Probably every one…..
Name 1.
KFS:
HE WAS BEING SARCASTIC
Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Cubs
alex–No he wasn’t.
He thinks every team other than the Mets has 9 quality starting pitchers and benches full of guys who are also quality starters.
Sorry oleo, you are entitled to your opinion, as I am entitled to let you know how annoying your unrealistic and pessimistic posts are.
but kingman:
like i said, on ppaer our bench looks weak, but as TRS stated u never know who might step up and contribute say if someone goes down, i guess is more like a year to year basis on who might get lucky with that, u don’t need to be good all over the place to win the WS as it was shown in 2006 and last year..
Ok, Oleo, if Tex goes down who replaces him? If Posada goes down who replaces him? If Jeter or Arod goes down? Cano? ANY of the Yankee’s SP or Rivera?
alex—As you might expect, I agree with TRS wholeheartedly here…NO TEAM has a bench loaded with guys who would start elsewhere. And yes, the good teams have solid guys who can come in and make contributions.
That is why the 86 Mets were so unique and solid, with platoons including Backman, Teufel, Dykstra, Mookie, and Kevin Mitchell, and with Aguilera as the last starter and longman….that is not how EVERY playoff team is constructed, it is how all-time great teams which win 108 games and the WS are constructed.
That’s silly. Of course they have by luck usually someone step up when injury arrives. Usually someone no one ever heard of or someone everyone had written off and forgotten about. Then we all forget that part and say how it was great depth.
Example if the Mets HAD won last year everyone would have been praising Tatis and Murphy. Anyone think they were great DEpth?
agree, but this year who is ur dark horse in our bench?? just like we are the team to :beat” on paper is obvious that our be nch on paper is super weak..
Alex, the dark horse probably isn’t even on the bench now.
Murphy and Tatis were both in the minors to start the season. Evans too.
And I’m sure plenty of guys that stepped in on other teams to make big contributions started in the minors too, or were lowly regarded bench guys.
So, you want a couple of dark horses? How about F mart?
And just for you, Alex Cora!
And my favorite, Brad Holt.
as bad as our bullpen was if we had decent bench players then we wouldnt have had to use minorleaguers like Evans, A. Reyez, Ramon Martinez, Robinson Cancel for an extended period of time.
Nick Evans batting 5th in the deciding game of the season. were only 1 unjury away from that happening again
stick, i see a young guy stepping up better than any of the other guys we got in the bench right now, specially that 2B we got.. and oleo, u are 100 % right again..
I hope he’s ok, and the mets need to shut up about when a player is coming back, or what is done to him, or when he’s gonna pitch, not only wagner and church, but this was the same circus with alou in 2007 & 2008 and el duque, pedro, on and on.. just shut up and just say if the player is going or not going to the DL, jesus..
The Mets can’t win. If they stonewall, they get roasted for “hiding” things and not being honest with the fans.
But, when they keep the fans apprised on the situation, they get roasted any time something happens to the initial expection reported.
So pretty much, it’s a lose/lose!
I would go with the “need to know basis” though. Announce definitive diagnosis, and when they hit the DL or get activated.
my point exactly, just say he’ll be in the DL for 2 weeks or so, they’ve shown they are horrendous at managin a player’s health..
Its probably the three plus year history of pretending nothing is wrong right up until they are going under the knife that has people not believing everything will be fine. It’s never been fine, so why should it be fine this time?
Its been that way the whole of Omar’s tenure. They need to stop lying about injuries if they want to be believed about injuries.
and is not only the media who sees this is the fans who really wanna know, therefore giving the media more ammunition to get news..
11th!? Why not just wait 2 more days and have him pitch the home opener? Come on!
rotation rotation rotation…if I’m not mistaken they want to make sure he gets all of his starts in and if he skips a whole turn of the rotation he misses out on one. Santana getting as many starts as possible is extremely important.
Exactly. I’m sure most of us would prefer Santana to get 34 starts this year, not 33.
Well, if he pitches the 11th, he’d already have missed a whole turn. The Mets would’ve played 4 games and had 1 off day already. Unless Manuel has already decided to use the 5th starter through the first 2 turns, The 11th would’ve been his second turn in the rotation if he were to pitch on opening day.
The Mets have already said that at least the first time through the rotation that they planned on using all 5 starters.
Well, I guess Santana getting as many starts as possible isn’t a priority then. Not really trying to start a fight but having him be the #5 starter really doesn’t make any sense. Then again, this came from Sherman so…I call BS.
I have three reasons for you
Livan Hernandez, Freddy Garcia, and Tim Redding.
Do you really want TWO of them pitching in the first week of the season?
I think the Mets are getting a bum rap on the medical news issue. They weren’t lying to cover up known injuries.
Sometimes you expect one thing, and something else comes up. Church especially was a weird case. Teams don’t have a lot of experience dealing with head injuries. So maybe they didn’t make all the best choices (or maybe they made reasonable ones and in retrospect they weren’t right), but they weren’t trying to hide anything.
With Wagner, they seemed pretty up front about him. Again, the medical reports initially appeared to be a strain (or some such ailment), and their announcements made sense based on that. Just because it turned out to be something serious (that did not turn up on initial exams) does not mean they were hiding anything.
I agree.
I disagree on Wagner. They knew, they just told us it wasnt as serious until he couldnt hardly throw the ball.
I’ll give you Church because of the unusual nature of concussions. But even then they would never admit to doing anything wrong, when having him get on a plane a couple hours after the concussion in Atlanta was so clearly a terrible idea…
Not defending them, but it must get a little bit annoying to be trying to conduct business with your team and having the media digging for anything they can get a jump on for a story. Or, if not, speculating in such a way it makes it sound like it’s true. I don’t think half of what we heard was told to the media by the Mets. Half was a lot of speculation…..
I think we all knew, when Johan had to delay his ST routine, he would be pushed back some days….
Amen!
And every NY blowhard radio host and tabloid writer is of course going to use this situation to sell papers, get listeners, and inflame the pessimistic fans.
THIS IS NEW YORK!!?? they know how everything will get blown out of proportion, just shut up and when a diagnostic is made then u can talk,, that’s why the mets get a bad rap at how they conduct things sometimes..
instead of signing 50 guys and hoping to get lucky how about signing 1 guy that can actually be relied on.
our bench is probably Castro, Cora, Tatis, Reed, Anderson.
besides castro (who will be injured most of the year) not one of those guys can step in and play everyday and not be a liability.
the other contenders might not have 5 capable starters but they have at least 1 they can rely on
How is Tatis a liabiltiy? Based on last year? Now, granted he may flop this year but benches are lead by guys like him.
if he plays 50 games this year i’ll be shocked
then that is good because it means that murphy worked out
I think this is a balancing act – when it comes to signing for the bench. If a guy could play everyday, he wouldn’t be sitting on our bench – he’d be starting for some other team.
Most guys with the kind of talent we’d be looking for don’t want to be sitting on someone’s bench.
We got lucky last year with the ‘NL comeback player of the year’ in Tatis. But he wasn’t the first choice to replace Alou b/c on paper, he was a minor leaguer who hadn’t played in the ML in several years. Went thru a few replacements before we got to him. And even though he’s not a good defensive LF, his bat did win us a couple of games.
Cora will step in and play everyday 2B if needed, and Tatis would be fine based on last year, otherwise you are probably correct. so 60% correct…
Fortunately the Mets dont have a situation where they need a lot of backups to start.
And hopefully Tatis will be making the bulk of the starts when 1B/3B/LF/RF need a day off.
cora’s career is probably what castillo would be hitting if we replace him, so how much of an upgrade is that?
Why is it that for other teams we use the players last year results but for the Mets players we use career averages? But then sometimes when it proves the point the other way, such as Wright, we use last year’s stats instead of career averages.
If you are going to count last year’s stats for Wright then you have to count last year’s stats for Cora and Tatis.
TRS — You win for best post ever. Preach it!
I really don’t expect Anderson to be on the team. Or maybe that is just a hope? But yes, at this point he is purely a PH, and other teams do have them too.
Cora and Tatis are both capable of starting, and actually started quite a few games last year. So as bench guys, they are not liabilities.
Reed can play excellent D, no idea if he will really add much O. Think Endy.
And Castro is a good BU catcher. Whether he can stay healthy of course is a ?, but if he is playing, again not a liability.
instead of signing 50 guys and hoping to get lucky how about signing 1 guy that can actually be relied on”
ahh.. nice, but yet i said the same thing but with other words, i used bums, or garbage.. i agree with you man..
Here’s a great bench for Oleo. Get ready, this one will blow you away.
Matt Stairs
Brad Harman
Eric Bruntlett
Ronny Paulino
Gregg Dobbs
Chris Coste
Man Oleo was right. We can’t compete with that at all.
TRS, no offense, but greg dobbs hit many big hits and hr’s for the phillies last year, and paulino can probably be our everyday C.. heck, even bruntlett can hit hr, we have noone in our bench with power.. NOONE..
Alex, becareful you are going to back yourself in a hole for those type comments.
Bruntlett’s OPS was .594 last year with a .297 SLG. Those make Cora and Castillo look like HR hitters.
Paulino hit .217 and had a .582 OPS last season.
Money aside the Phillies would run to trade Bruntlett and Paulino for Castro and Cora.
TRS, we’re looking at the whole bench, paulino is a good catcher and is relative young, and cora may be our #1 or #2 guy in the bench, therefort comparition should be made with greg dobbs not bruntlett..
Why would I do that?
Paulino was TERRIBLE last year. Bruntlett was TERRIBLE last year.
They don’t have a CLUE who the other IF reserve will be and will most likely be someone even WORSE than Bruntlett.
They have 1 1/2 decent bench guys and one of them can’t play the field any more in Stairs.
Thus the ONLY guy they have on their bench that could be an everyday guy is Dobbs. The same guy that put up similar numbers to Tatis last year.
thats 1 and a half is better than our 0
last year for Tatis was a fluke. if he bats over .250 id be shocked
That’s just silly. You base your entire arguement on the fact that you THINK Tatis was a fluke? Yet for some reason you go against stats and say that Paulino and Bruntlett are comparable to Castro and Cora?
Wait? That’s a bench of a team? I thought you were naming off the starting lineup of this year’s allstar team!!! ;-)
coste is a career .288 hitter
dobbs can start for many teams in the league
bruntlett isnt good, Paulino is the same as castro
Paulino will first need to prove that last year was a fluke, because he was flat out embarrassing. If Rey Ordonez was still playing, he would point and laugh.
Paulino will first need to prove that last year was a fluke, because he was flat out awful. If Rey Ordonez was still playing, he would have pointed and laughed.
And yes, the good teams have solid guys who can come in and make contributions”
for kingman..
so you exoect the bench we have constructed right now to make contributions?? that my friend is being a true loyal fan with no remorse.. and i respect you for that, but i can’t even come close to agreeying wit you
Castro injured as hell still made huge contributions. Tatis? Marlon won’t be here unless he can help.
alex, I just do not think this bench is that bad, I really don’t. I know you hate Cora, but I think he can be valuable as a bench guy, as can Tatis and Castro. And yes, I would love an 86 Met-type bench, but that is rare.
I am out for the day, so alex, TRS, stick, rusty, MetsFan4 and the rest, have a fine day!
Have a good one, Kingman.
u too man, sorry i was out..
Reyes hopped around in pain after stealing third but stayed in the game, going 2-for-5 with two runs.
that came from newsday,i hope is not a big deal.
if he stayed in the game, I assume it’s not a big deal
Sigh…..here’s hoping he stubbed his toe.
Ugh! WBC
Tatis had 1 amazing year (roids?) then vanished from the face of the earth only to resurface 8 years later.
how is that reliable?
Castro is ALWAYS hurt.
Cora is a career .245 hitter
Anderson is done and Jeremy Reed is a weaker version of endy…
Matt Stairs
Brad Harman
Eric Bruntlett
Ronny Paulino
Gregg Dobbs
Chris Coste
There is only 1 guy on that bench that could start and that is Dobbs.
Matt Stairs might be 40 but he’s got power
Coste – .288 career hitter
never heard of Brad Harman
Bruntlett is the same as cora
Paulino – hits the same as Castro
they’re bench is still better
How the hell is Paulino the same as Castro? Bruntlett the same as Cora.
Use last year or career stats and say that either are better.
And here’s another point for you Oleo. If contending teams don’t have guys like we do on the bench then how did the Redsox have Cora starting 41 games last season?
because Julio Lugo got hurt and Jed Lowrie hadn’t emerged until the end of the season.
if Castillo gets hurt, Cora is playing everyday
actually Lowrie was there all year..my bad but it took injuires to Lowell, Lugo to get Cora 41 starts
So what? Point is that he was a main part of their bench last year. Obviously it took a starter going down for him to play a lot. Duh. That’s why he is a bench player.
guys WFAN is really downplaying this supposed injury. The team is stating Santana will be ready for Opening Day if there are no more setbacks.
Well lets take a look
Will the Phillies carry 3 catchers? If so one would still as sume that if it’s a platoon that Coste would gety more AB’s
Ruiz: Castro Castro by a wide margin.
Paulino: Reed/Pagan Unless Paulino proves last year was a fluke then slight advantage Mets
Dobbs: Tatis put up similar numbers last year. It will depend of if Tatis was for real or not.
Stairs: Anderson/or one of the 1,000 LHPH, clear advantage Stairs
Bruntlett: Cora Clear advantage Cora
If the Phillies carry 6 bench players it will be a guy worse than Bruntlett.
So how is this bench clearly better than ours?
TRS, we should thank you for making our point easier, u have to admit that the phillies bench is better than ours, maybe pitching wise we got an edge, but overall the phillies are either similar or better in every other category..
How? How is that bench better than ours?
Castro is better than Ruiz
Paulino hit .212 last year. Unless something happens, then anyone we put there will be better.
Dobbs and Tatis put up the same numbers with Tatis actually having an edge in OPS.
Stairs is 106 years old and is better than Marlon of course. We will see if Marlon makes the team.
Cora is MUCH better than Bruntlett
How many times do I need to lay it out?
cora is not MUCH better than anybody, he’s a poor version of a bad luis castillo and we all saw that last year, gregg dobbs is better than tatis, paulino, coste and stairs are better than anything else we got left, and if marlon doesn’t make the team who are we gonna put there?
How is Cora not much better than Bruntlett?
Not to mention that IF Tatis performs like last year he is comparable and even slightly better than Dobbs statistically.
BIG IF…
Obviously, most benches are full of big IF’s.
Rusty, if you’re out there,I just logged on and
noted your this day in Met history.Which is
appreciated however, you identified Tom Grieve as a Pitcher,He was not. He was an OFer and a pretty big prospect during his time
the early 70s. He is the same Tom Grieve who for years would be the Rangers GM.
Also,he is the father of Ben Grieve who was
a big,power hitting prospect with the Devil Rays several yrs ago. had A good couple seasons and faded quickly. Tom Grieve also
was very good friends with Bobby Valentine
and it was he who hired Bobby V to Manage
the Rangers before both eventually were
fired. Also, I hear this fella “Manny” was
signed to a 2yr-45Million dollar deal with
the Dodgers. Whew, lot of money!
Whos he?, Again?
Yankee’s bench
Swisher
Molina
Gardner
Ransom
And TBD
Wow that’s too much to deal with too.
With all that money you think they would have a starter for every position on the bench.
TRS, the yankees lineup doesn’t have as many holes as we do.. go position by position and judge urselve, they can lose a guy or 2 and they’ll be fine.. unless is AROD
How were they last year Alex? With all of those players.
They don’t? CF is a big ? (will they get any production). Which 2B will show up? Will Nady hit like a pirate or a Yankee? Can Damon stay on the field? Can he throw far enough to hit a cut off man? Is Posada done?
Actually, the yankees really only have 3 guys that you can consider solid (A roid, Tex and Jeter). The rest all have some kind of ? next to them. And Jeter ain’t what he used to be.
Agreed Stickguy. The Yankee’s are a clas sic example of what happens when you just pour money on something. They have a lot of holes considering their payroll for sure.
The Cubs may have the best bench in the league.
Gathright terrible.
Reed Johnson had a great season last year but way above career norms. May start anyway.
Miles/Fontenot good depth there for sure
BakoTerribe very bad
Hoffpawhatever depends on if he was a fluke or not.
Dodgers? Maybe
Pierre? I guess not bad for a 4th OF
Young: Terrible numbers last year
Loretta and Dewitt are very nice depth
Ausmus: Terrible
Mets fans have reason to be concerned and unhappy. The Mets, particularly in recent years, are notoriously terrible at handling this injury stuff. And I don’t think it is confined to a public relations / media relations issue. I truly think that they have problems with their medical staff and I believe that they have internal friction and disagreement about what and how much information to release. Finally, I just think that there is a general lack of truthfulness on these types of issues in sports — sometimes for seemingly good reason (so you don’t get taken to the cleaners in a trade if they know you are desperate), but sometimes for nefarious reasons, such as keeping injuries quiet or downplaying them so as not to affect ticket sales. Hmmmm. Anyway, let’s just hope that Johan takes his time, gets right and is okay for the long haul. But don’t believe anything the Mets say, because they just aren’t going to be particularly forthcoming or truthful.
Ok..this bench conversation is absolutely ridiculous. The Mets have a pretty good/flexible bench this season, and often times, a great bench is the result of catching lightening in a bottle. If bench players were consistently good players, they’d be starters on a different team.
And Alex, the Yankee lineup has holes at: C, CF, LF, and possibly 2B.
Anyway, all I care about is a Santana update, and if he started throwing at 9:30, we should have it…the suspense is KILLING me!
update from Rubin’s blog:
Johan Santana tossed a 46-pitch bullpen session Wednesday and then predicted he would take the ball on Opening Day in Cincinnati on April 6.
“All plans have to do have room for modification,” said pitching coach Dan Warthen, who had told the Daily News a day earlier that Santana’s chances of starting Opening Day were “almost nil.”
Said Santana: “We are in this thing together, and I appreciate everything he’s doing. He’s trying to protect me and the team, of course. But as of right now, my mindset is for Opening Day. We’ve got to go one day at a time and see what’s going on. We’re making progress every time, every day, and we’re on the right track. It’s not like we’re getting any setbacks or anything.”
More details to follow.
I think the title on that blog says it all:
‘Johan Wants Ball on Opening Day’
Johan does seem to be the type of guy who says give me ball and I will give you everything I have on that day. When you think about it his second half last year was spectacular for a healthy pitcher but doing it with a bum knee is pretty amazing. He was a horse down the stretch.
Yup. Johan is worth every penny they paid for him.
Thanks!…Honestly, I wish they would forget about Opening Day, and just focus on whether Santana will be ready when the season starts. It gives them a little bit more leeway, and it will help keep us off the ledge, in the event that Johan is in fact not ready for Opening Day, but game 4 instead.
Right, give him the 5th start of the season. He stays on rotation and never misses a start.
That would be Saturday April 11th at the Marlins.
Yep…I just think that by trying to pencil him in on a specific day is asking for trouble, considering just how much the media enjoys sensationalizing any negative news regarding the Mets.
I think of course the Mets HAVE to as sign a date for him to work toward because everything is determined by that. He warmups, offdays etc all depend on that. That is why I say give him the latest date possible not to miss a start.
Right – I understand that part…My point is that they don’t need to inform the media of when that specific date is.
Good point, but if you say nothing then the media will kill you as well.
If he was really injured, no way he goes 46 pitches. So, unless something flares up by tomorrow, everyone can probably come in off the ledge.
The real question for this ST is still who will be our #5 starter. That most likely won’t be decided until the last week of ST.
So far based on performance it would seem Livan would be the guy. Niese and Parnell are only getting it if they flat out outshine the other guys as I feel the Mets would rather have them starting in AAA for more experience. Parnell could force his way into the bullpen talk. Garcia seems like he is shot and Redding hasn’teven pitched yet
But it’s VERY early. Redding will most likely not be ready for sure. Garcia and Livan who knows? It still could be Pedro or even a guy like Odalis Perez.
VERY encouraging news to hear Santana is focusing on Opening Day. Very good news. Just dont overdue it.
they don’t even need santana to beat the reds
I really hope this news is true, but you can’t help but not trust the Mets when it comes to the health of their players.
Not much has been mentioned about Villone. Has he pitched for us in ST yet? He for sure is a LOOGY and still had good numbers last year in that role. LH had a .176 BA against him last year.
Villone has not yet pitched for the Mets in a game this spring.
You really all sound like a bunch of
nervous nellys. This thing w/ Johan happens
every year with every team.
Relax! All will be fine.
I agree, I am taking Matt’s approach. Not be too concerned but still be slightly nervous until he pitches in a real game and recovers.
Yup, and I believe CC hasn’t even pitched in a real game yet either.
Johan will be fine.
The official line for Johan Santana as indicated by the highly advanced projection system by TheBigStapler:
2.95 ERA
19-7
218 K
I think the ERA might be a little high, but otherwise I concur.
I personally think we could see it lower, too, but the highly advanced projection system is what it is.
Great article Matt has linked to in his 10:31 update. Must read for anyone with any opinion or worry on Johan’s current situation.
wait….the sky ISN’T falling??
he is fine, now bring on the season!
on a side note the WBC is coming and I’m really excited!
LET’S GO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC….
F***** A-ROD IS HURT!! DAMMMIT..
Most likely not. He is most likely using this as an excuse so the circus does not follow.
Alex, ARoid being hurt for the D.R. is a
good thing. Plus, Hows he playin’ for
them anyway?
uh, his heritage is DR becoz his parents were from there.. and how is it a good thing if our 4th hitter is out??
Dude, I know THAT! But HE said a year ago
that he wouldn’t play for either the U.S. or
D.R. because he didn’t waht to dis the other.
Plus,like I discussed w/you before.out of respect for all hes been given here as an
American he picks the D.R.? C’mon man!
Obvious attempt to garner street cred con
los lationos, no? AND Alex, how could you
possibly root for this complete phoney?
They are better off because you and I both
know that in a big spot he ain’t gonna get
the job done.
I have faith he will.. watch man.. he will carry us to the chamopionship and the yankees to the playoffs..
Dude, the first team he carries to anything
will be his first. This is a Righthanded
Barry Bonds with a more pleasant personality.
The official line for Johan Santana and Jose Reyes system by TheBigAl:
18-5 2.82 209 CY YOUNG…
.317 22 83 132 226 (mets record for hits) 35 17 .378 .485.. MVP!!
Who or what is this? I want some of it.
My CBS fantasy baseball projections are about right along those guidelines:
19-7, 220/55 K/BB, 200 HA, 2.86 ERA and a 1. 16 WHIP in 220 innings.
I also think those are a little lower then should be. His Wins should theoritically crack 20 with the solid bullpen, and his K/IP ratio has always been above 1. Also his Whip will typically hover around the .9-1 range.
So statistically it could be way better. He will definitly compete for the Cy-Young.
I was questioning Reyes’s stats more so.
It’s a 20 point jump in BA and OBP.
I’ve been saying/hoping for 2yrs now that
Reyes will have an MVP season.
I’m on that bandwagon.
And as Jose goes,so go the Mets.
Well, again, i think he will have a monster year, and if we have him as our 3rd hitter he’d be well better protected than having that piece of **** castillo hitting behind him, if it happens i expect him to have the same season alomar had in 1999 execpt the 120 rbi’s.. but overall same prosuction
Picking nits here, but Johan had 206 K in 234 1/3 IP last season.
Ks are not that important and the older
Johan gets the more he knows it.
Less Ks means less pitches thrown
and thats a good thing!
I agree with your a$$essment, I was responding to mark4212 who stated “his K/IP ratio has always been above 1″ in regards to Santana.
Grave,
It had been before last season is what i meant. Last season he hid a Highet Whip and a lower K rate then any other season since 2003, all while pitching the most innings.
I hear you mark, it was an unnecessary nitpick on my part. In my defense(?) I’ve had too much coffee this morning.
And Another Thing.To all my fellow Met fans
Re:Your posts on the Yankees Bench.
Not out of the question that bench may all
be starters for them for long stretches
this season. Sure, we have question marks
like all teams, including the 200Million dollar
bronx bums. Posada,going on 38.You can count on one hand the number of Catchers
who at his age have fully come back from
serious arm injuries.ARoid,Already a weak
minded guy is gonna get destroyed in every
park he visits and at times in yankee stadium.
What kind of year ya think hes gonna have?
The great Mariano,also coming off surgery,
and pushing 40.At some point they’re gonna
wake up and hes just gonna be good not
great.Burnett,yeah he may do what he did last
year but even a better chance he goes Carl
Pavano on them.Damon&Matsui,getting close
to the end in their mid30s and both are already liabilities in the field.Gardner? Can
you say Jason Tyner? Jeters not getting any younger and now that they’ve got Tex, how
many DHs can you put in the lineup?
The Sox and The Rays are no longer scared
of the mighty yankees.This is seems adds up
to a 2009 yankee team which looks like
the highest paid failure in baseball history.
86-76 and 3rd place,With them and their fans
watching the New York Mets in the playoffs!
the yankees will either struggle becoz of arod struggle or they will win 95-100 games if he (as i predict) has a MONSTER season (which i think he will)
I would have to agree. The Yankee’s will have to have a lot go right to get to 90 wins.
Don’t tell that to the afternoon drive guy on the FAN.
doubt that, we’ve all seen that #13 (2007) can carry that team by HIMSELF..
and we’ve all seen that #13 can fail to carry them (2004, 2005, 2006, 2008).
WHAT?? he was the MVP in 05 and believe it or not in 04 he did pretty good agains the sox the first 3 games.. and the yankees have made the playoffs all but last year since he got there..
I understand every point you’ve made alex, but when you’re the Yankees, the only goal is to win the world series. Anything less is unacceptable. In that context, the context that the Yankees wish to be regarded in, ARod and by extension the Yankees have been a failure during his time with the team. Unless/until ARod wins a ring with the Yankees this will continue to be true.
You mean like he did last year?
Holy Cow Alex, You really are slurping up
some ARoid, aren’t you?
LMAO..
regardless what anybody says, he’s the best player in the game, and easily the most stupid and manilpulated person on earth..
My man, you are wrong and sorry to say
naive on both those points.
But we’re still cool.
FONGU,
i understand u and many mets fan hates this guy, but can you gimme anybody on the mets better than him?? please..
My friend, I don’t hate anybody.
And yes stat wise ARoid has been second
to none the past decade.
However, If you’re a GM (not fantasy league)
And you want to start a team which you hope
will contend for the next 3to5 years, I’ll give
you 4 Mets I’d (and likely most GMs) would
take before AFraud, Wright,Reyes,Beltan
And Santana. OK? answer your Q?
Again, what happens if Posada is done?
If ARoid cant (as usual)take the heat?
if Burnett is hurt,as usual?
if they get nothing out of CF?
if MAriano starts to act like a 40year old?
If Damon&Matsui con’t to break down?
if Pettite is ordinary sans steroids?
if CC doesn’t stop eating 10 big macs a day?
if Texeira gets off to a slow start(as usual)
and starts to get brutalized by yankee fans?
And Girardi con’ts to prove he ain’t Billy Martin
in the duggout? What then?
With no factual back up whatsoever I believe CC and Tex will be just fine, but that still leaves 7 scenarios to go wrong. If only 2 or 3 of those things go wrong, they’re in big trouble.
u want me to go trough ALL the ifs we got as well, believe me, that list will be longer than that one..
I’d actually love you to go through that list Alex. Because outside, if Carlos doesn’t hit like he did in the 2nd half of last year, there aren’t any really.
LF – Got nothing out of that position last year
RF – Got nothing out of that position last year
C – Got nothing out of that position last year
2b – Got nothing out of that position last year
5th starter – Got nothing out of that position last year
And the team still won 89 games, with almost NO bullpen.
So if there is just a consistent, not spectacular Murphy/Church/Tatis manning the Cornor OF positions, if Castillo/Cora gives anything at 2nd. If Schneider/Castro/Pudge if he is signed give anything at catcher. The team is leaps and bounds better then last.
Well played, mark. I eagerly await the response to this.
Dude, I’m bustin’ your chops because
I can tell, like me when It comes to our
Mets we’re always thinking about the worst
case scenario. Well that applys to the yanks
as well. Likely, more because their reign of
terror is over. Torre was their blessed good
luck charm as was that stadium.And like I
said the other day,the ghosts don’t get to move across the street. No more Jeff Maiers,
no more Jeter’s being out of position and turning that into a series saving play and no
more picking up scrubs like Brosius or has
beens like Straw,Raines&Fielder having
them just put on that uniform and turning
into heros. It’s over for them.They come into
the season despite all their spending and
skewing of the FA market as the third best
team in their division.
Mark,
here’s the thing, the AL has way better more teams than the NL, therefore most of those 89 wins came against bad teams, and even the “good teams” weren’t as impressive.. remember the NL west champion only won it with 84 games!
Alex, man I give you heavy respect!
Because atleast while you’re getting
pummled, you keep tryin’ to fight back.
But its getting weak dude.
I’ll take 20-6 any day of the week!
Anybody else breathing a sigh of relief?? ” arm wipes sweat fill forehead!”
‘
After listening to Johan’s interview on the Fan, I’m very confident about him pitching on Opening Day. I recomend to those who haven’t heard it, listen to it.
recommend*
I guess this Santana thread is the best place for this.
Further evidence of the Phillies’ and their fans’ obsession with the Mets: Johan Santana’s baseball-reference page is sponsored by “Phillies Nation,” and the tag line is “ha ha ha ha the Mets are a joke.”
Such simpletons. They don’t deserve a world championship as clearly they are incapable of appreciating it.
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