Tag: Johan Santana

Mets Johan Santana May Need Shoulder Surgery

johan satana2Multiple media reports state that Mets ace Johan Santana had an MRI on his shoulder today that indicated a probable re-tear of his surgically repaired shoulder capsule. In all likelihood, Santana’s season is over and so is his Mets career.

Santana will finish his Mets career pitching in four seasons to a 46-34 record with a 3.18 ERA over 109 games. The injuries were a huge disappointment but we’ll never forget the 2012 no-hitter with the game saving catch by Mike Baxter.

The Wilpons must be kicking themselves now for not insuring Santana’s contract against injury. At least this is the last season of the contract. They’ll be finished with Santana after this season on the disabled list.
photo credit: OlympianX via photopin cc

Mets Terry Collins on Johan Santana Spring Shut Down

“You could just tell. One of the things last year at this time that he really showed was that great feel for the changeup. He was trying to build up some velocity and he didn’t have a real good feel for his release point. But at least he had the arm speed, and the other day I didn’t see much arm speed.”

-Terry Collins of Johan Santana’s spring shut down until March 10-15

Mets Buy Out Jason Bay’s Contract

Jason Bay
Jason Bay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Mets and Jason Bay agreed to “part ways” today. From the quotes we got from Sandy Alderson and Bay, it sounded mutual. But we all know that the Mets wanted him gone and so did we. They just had to find a way to get rid of him while still owing him $21 million guaranteed.

In three years with the Mets, Bay played in 288 games and hit .234 with 26 HR and 124 RBI’s…. Combined over three years!!! It’ll certainly go down as one of the worst contracts in Mets history, if not the worst. The 4-year/$67 million deal left Bay and his family financially set for life thanks to the Wilpons but left Mets fans exasperated.

The move leaves a hole in left field for the Mets going into 2013 but we all know that the Mets aren’t playing for 2013. They’re building to try to be competitive again in 2014 after Johan Santana’s contract expires.

The only good thing I can say about Bay is that he always hustled and never made excuses for his poor performance when it would’ve been easy to do so. I have to commend the guy for giving 100% effort during extremely difficult conditions. He just seemed to lose any ability to hit the ball. It’s dumbfounding.

Mets and David Wright Negotiating Contract Extension

There’s no secret that the Mets and David Wright have been talking about a contract extension. Sandy Alderson discussed it openly near the end of the lost 2012 season. Wright has a team option for 2013 at $16 million and the Mets have five days after the end of the World Series to take that option.

Joel Sherman is reporting in the Post today that his anonymous baseball people believe the Mets want to finalize that deal before having to take the option year. That would allow them to package the option year into one large deal in the neighborhood of 8-years/$143 million. That would eclipse Johan Santana’s 7-year/$143 million as the highest paid Mets player ever.

I’m not so sure that the Mets will finalize a deal of that magnitude within five days of the World Series ending. But all signs point to a deal getting done soon that will keep Wright with the Mets for what will likely be the rest of his career. The guy has done everything right since he’s been with the Mets and keeps himself in great shape. So if you’re going to risk a huge contract, I can’t think of a better player to risk it on.

Mets 2012 Home Attendance Down Again

English: Citi Field during the day

English: Citi Field during the day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Surprise!!! Attendance at Citi Field was down again. Home attendance has been dropping steadily since the Mets moved into Citi Field in 2009. They went from 3.1 million tickets sold to 2.5 (2010), to 2.3 (2011), and now bottoming out at 2.2 million.

If you’ve been to a game this year, you know that they didn’t have the 27,000+ average tickets sold in the park. It was a ghost town unless R.A. Dickey or Johan Santana were pitching.

33% of the available tickets went unsold this year despite the team’s aggressive marketing tactics (you know what I mean if you’re on their email list). And they reduced ticket prices this season… Again.

Maybe the Wilpons and Sandy Alderson might start to get the idea that they need to win some games to sell tickets. That would be a novel idea.

Mets Activate Baxter, Demote Nieuwenhuis

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 01: Head Trainer Ray Ramir...
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 01: Head Trainer Ray Ramirez walks Mike Baxter #23 of the New York Mets back to the dugout after being injured crashing into the wall during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at CitiField on June 1, 2012 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Mike Baxter is making his return with the Mets after separating his collarbone on June 1st preserving Johan Santana’s no-hitter. He’ll re-join the team in San Francisco starting tomorrow at 10:15pm. It’ll certainly be a triumphant return for the Queens native. I wish he had been able to play his first game at Citi Field. The crowd would’ve gone crazy for him.

Unfortunately, Kirk Nieuwenhuis was exposed by opposing pitchers after having a great start with the Mets. He’s currently hitting .252 with 7 HR’s and 28 RBI’s. The problem was 98 strikeouts in 282 at-bats.

It’s possible that Baxter could play left field predominantly against right-handers with Jason Bay playing against lefties. If Bay continues to struggle and Baxter keeps hitting, Baxter may be able to get a grip on the left field job permanently.