Former New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana is hoping to return to the major leagues in 2015 after missing all of the last two seasons due to injuries.
But Santana’s comeback has not been going smoothly. Santana, 35, retired six straight batters in his first appearance with the Navegantes del Magallanes on January 13th. However, Santana’s manager Carlos Garcia told reporters that the pitcher’s left shoulder has been slow to recover and he won’t pitch again in the Venezuelan Winter League.
FOX Sports reporter Jon Morositweeted that Santana may still throw for MLB scouts, but those plans are unclear.
I’d love to see Santana’s comeback be successful – it’s always better to be able to leave on your own terms than to have injuries force you out the door. But at this stage, we might have to get ready to accept the idea that we watched Santana’s final MLB appearance on August 17, 2012.
Miami Marlins fans must love seeing games against the New York Mets come up on the schedule.
The Marlins, who have the worst record in Major League Baseball, have won their last five in a row against the Mets — including two this weekend. Eight of their 18 victories — 44 percent — have come at the Mets’ expense.
Ike Davis flails at a pitch on Saturday (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
Sandy Alderson has finally been moved to action. Rick Ankiel paid the price on Saturday when he was designated for assignment, likely signalling the end of his major league baseball career. Ike Davis, Robert Carson and Mike Baxterearned tickets to Las Vegas on Sunday.
On one hand, I feel bad for them. Davis and Carson were friendly and personable on the brief occasions when I’ve met them. Baxter sacrificed his body to give us the highlight of last year’s season.
Even Ankiel, who probably never should have been here in the first place, evokes some sympathy – he’s basically been told that he’s not good enough to do his job any longer. But it’s been clear for a while that they don’t belong in the major leagues.
On the other hand, I’d like to ship out most of the rest of the roster along with them.
The Mets starting pitching has been fine and David Wright is our All-Star (even though he’s probably not going to be the starter unless the Kung-Fu Panda strains something reaching for the buffet table.) Daniel Murphy has mostly been solid, Juan Lagares has shown flashes of promise, and that’s about it…
The Mets are 24th in runs scored, 20th in home runs, 27th in on-base percentage, and 27th in slugging percentage. Their offensive struggles are a team issue, and whoever Alderson calls up from Las Vegas (believed to be Josh Satin, Collin Cowgill and Josh Edgin) is unlikely to have the talent to significantly improve the situation.
Even so, I’m not ready to give up on them. Tomorrow night, I’ll probably be annoyed that there’s no Mets game to turn on at 7 p.m. Maybe I’ll even get out to another game on this home stand. (There’s a concert after Friday’s game, so there will be a second chance at entertainment if the Mets can’t provide it.)
I missed Friday night’s Mets game, and that means I was spared watched a 14-5 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays.
That’s almost certainly a good thing.
However, I didn’t get to watch a couple of late-game pitching performances that likely would have amused me. Catcher Rob Johnson ended up pitching the eighth inning, and he actually struck out Eric Thames. (I know I would have liked to have seen that, considering that Thames already had a major league attitude a couple of years ago when I saw him play for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.)
I also missed the major league debut of lefty reliever Robert Carson, who became the 929th player in New York Mets history. Carson came on in the seventh inning when the Mets were down 14-1. He pitched a scoreless frame, marred only by a walk to Colby Rasmus.
Carson signed a pair of minor league cards for me last year when I saw him playing for the Binghamton Mets. Hopefully Topps will include him in one of their later season sets.
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