Here’s some video from ESPN’s Steve Phillips talking about the impact that Johan Santana’s injury could have on the Mets. He talks about everyone in the rotation getting bumped up a slot and the negative impact on the bullpen. Also in the clip is some information about Pedro Martinez trying to get a major league contract for 2009.
Tag: Johan Santana
Audio: Mets Minaya, Santana, K-Rod, And More
- Image via Wikipedia
Yesterday’s visit to Port St. Lucie didn’t go as planned for Mike Francesa of WFAN. We have some clips below from his interviews. But the big news is that Francesa couldn’t get interviews with David Wrigh and Ryan Church. Both refused to do interviews with him and even meet with him to discuss their problems.
Francesa went on to say that he tried to work through Mets PR man Jay Horowitz to meet with both players to discuss the situation. Both players refused the meeting. Wright didn’t like Francesa’s comments about his problems hitting in the clutch. And Church didn’t like Francesa’s comments about Church disliking New York.
Francesa said during the show that Church didn’t matter but Wright was immature about the situation and that he has some growing up to do. He also likened Wright’s immaturity about the interview to his problems hitting in the clutch.
It sounded to me like sour grapes that he couldn’t get the player interviews that he wanted. Francesa comes across as pompous at times. I think he was planning on generating some big ratings by having both players on to discuss their problems. When it didn’t happen, he was upset and lashed out at both labelling Church as inconsequential and Wright as immature. Good stuff…
Onto the interviews that Francesa did get:
Report: Mets Santana Injured Worse Than Thought
Newsday’s David Lennon is reporting that Johan Santana is still feeling tightness in his elbow and it may be more severe than we had hoped. He’s already been scratched from pitching in two games this spring. And now we find out he’ll throw a bullpen session today and if he still doesn’t feel good he’ll come back to New York for tests.
From Newsday:
“We have 162 games,” Santana said. “What we have to accomplish takes 162 games. Everything starts April 6, if it’s going to be me or somebody else. It’s tough to say right now.”
Now they’re talking about the opening day start being in jeopardy. This could be terrible news for the Mets if Santana is going to miss significant time this season. Really, the season could be in jeopardy if he’s going to miss a lot of time. More news to come soon, I’m sure.
Daily Mets News: Reyes Rocks Marlins And More
- Image via Wikipedia
It’s hard to get excited about the results of a spring training game but Jose Reyes went off on the Marlins today. He hit two homers and had six RBI’s. But the great news is that he’s bringing back Professor Reyes after a one year absence. I don’t know why but I loved the Professor Reyes bit. I thought it was a lot of fun.
Onto the Mets news:
- Tim Redding is still recovering from shoulder pain and won’t throw off a mound for a few more days.
- Sean Green cut the nail on his middle finger on his pitching hand. He won’t miss any time though.
- WFAN’s Mike Francesa is broadcasting from Tradition Field today and tomorrow. He’s got tons of audio clips of the the Mets that I’ll be linking to later today. And he’s trying to get Ryan Church and David Wright on tomorrow. Both of which he’s feuded with.
- Johan Santana was scratched from his Friday start due to tightness in his pitching elbow. He’ll still get five starts in before opening day and doesn’t anticipate missing any other starts this spring.
- Babes Love Baseball does their season preview of the Mets in haiku form.
- The Mets received more than 803,000 entries for the lottery to purchase tickets for the home opener.
Daily Mets Links: Church, Tatis, Manuel, And More
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
There are plenty of stories to report about the Mets this morning from Port St. Lucie. They played their first intra-squad game yesterday with Jerry Manuel watching carefully from behind the shortstop position.
Onto the Mets in the news:
- Ryan Church talked to the media about Manuel telling the media that Fernando Tatis will see time in right field. Manuel said he didn’t care about the players reaction to his comments. He’s trying to put the team in the best position to win.
- The Mets are likely to announce a player development agreement with the Mexico City Red Devils of the Mexican League. That’s the team that Ricardo Rincon played for last season.
- Joel Sherman of the Post writes about Johan Santana mentoring Oliver Perez and Ryan Church downplaying talk of a right field platoon. This is a good, short read.
- David Lennon of Newsday writes about Fernando Tatis’ aching palm and Ryan Church receiving an “I (heart) New York” t-shirt.
- Ben Shipgel of the NY Times does a tremendous profile of new third base coach Razor Shines.
- Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News does his 2009 Mets preview. He predicts a wild card berth for the Mets.
Video: Johan Santana Bullpen Session 2.23.09
Mets Players Begin Arriving In Florida
It’s great to start reading the columns and stories about the Mets that arrive early to camp in Port St. Lucie. Not only do I start to think of how this ugly winter will soon be over but how the ghosts of the last two Mets seasons may disappear. Like they never happened.
27 blown saves. 1 blown managerial firing. The 2009 season will wash that away with a roar into the playoffs. I hope.
The first few days this week we’ve learned a few things. Johan Santana feels fine after his minor offseason knee surgery. But he likely won’t be representing Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. Classic… what a ridiculous name.
Brian Schneider won’t be representing the U.S. in the WBC. Jose Valentin will be back on a minor league contract. I have a feeling that it won’t be long until he’s managing a team in the Mets organization. He seems like a solid leader.
Maybe most importantly Scott Schoenweiss, Aaron Heilman, and Joe Smith won’t be in Port St. Lucie this year. Heilman and Schoenweiss couldn’t come back after last season. 27 blown saves and now the bullpen has been blown up.
J.J. Putz and K-Rod will be here. Get ready for some “Gasolina” and some “Thunderstruck“. It’s a mostly new bullpen expecting all-new results.
Oh, by the way we haven’t learned of any Mets testing positive for anything yet. Maybe we can have a quiet spring training and get ready to take down the World Series champion Phillies.
Photo courtesy of alpineinc
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