By Steven Inman
In an article by Andy Martino of the NY Daily News, Martino writes about how Johan Santana and the Mets have not been seeing eye-to-eye. In fact the relationship has gotten so poor that the Mets front office and Santana haven’t talked for some time now according to Martino. “This is Beltran all over again.” A Mets official told Martino. Santana has cut off most communications with reporters as well. It all started when Santana came to camp out of shape and Sandy Alderson acknowledged it.
Obviously this isn’t good and can become a real distraction for a team that could really use some good news these days as well as a healthy Johan Santana. The Mets were frustrated and confused with how Santana came to camp with a weak shoulder and still wanted to pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.
At this point it looks very likely that Santana will not be a Met in 2014 and the idea that the Mets will get a “vintage Santana” type year here in 2013, is looking less and less likely. Terry Collins is still hopeful that Santana will pitch in a spring training game this week.
Lets face it for all the money that the Mets pay Santana he has not been worth it. He is not above the team. He is a member of the team. He needs to act like a member of the team. The WBC diesn’t pay his salary, the Mets do. He needs to respect that and to not to be in shape reminds me more of Ollie Perez than a two time Cy Young award winner. I never thought that Santana would end up like this. The Mets are on the right track now and they need to stay focused. I say now that if he eventually gets in shape trade him for prospects come the July 31st trading deadline.
It reminds me of how Pedro Martinez was at the end of his career here in terms of how fragile his arm became. They always say there is no such thing as a bad one year deal so I guess all we can do at this point is hope for the best. At this point I put the full blame on Santana for this Mess not the Mets front office