Citi Field Blog - New York Mets

So Johan Santana will not make his first spring training start on Tuesday as previously reported… The Post’s Bart Hubbuch reports the Mets ace will be pushed back “a minimum of several days”, although manager Jerry Manuel told reporters he is “not concerned with it at all”, referring to the tightness the pitcher has reported in his triceps tendon.

Painting a slightly gloomier picture is MLB.com’s Marty Noble, who thinks Santana could be held out for two more weeks or more… possibly pushing his first Grapefruit League start back beyond March 10th. Worse, there is the suggestion that such a delay could jeopardize the southpaw’s availability to start the Mets opener on April 6th in Cincinnati, a prospect which Noble says “already appears to be in question”. Beyond all that, Noble’s suggestion that Santana’s elbow soreness is due to his efforts to prepare to play for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic is moot and strikes me as an attempt to grab some headlines. Think “Hugo Chavez and Johan Santana Conspire to Sabotage Mets Season” or something to that effect.

Says Noble of Santana, “his love for his country may be cause of the genesis of the problem.” How a man’s patriotism can be some kind of negative is beyond me. (How a veteran writer could pen a phrase like ’cause of the genesis of the problem’ boggles the mind.) That Noble attributes the idea to Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen - “Patriotism could be the reason, pitching coach Dan Warthen said” makes it no more newsworthy or appropriate a topic at this stage of the game. If Warthen really floated the idea that Santana pushed himself “too hard” for the WBC, then he ought to get reamed by Jerry Manuel and the Mets front office, not to mention Santana’s agent. I mean, what good does that do at this point? Maybe Team Steinbrenner has commissioned Noble to try to deflect some media attention away from the train wreck that is A-Roid and the Yankees? Regardless, Noble should be able to come up with a better use of electrons.

Personally, I think Marty needs to take a chill. Barring a catastrophic injury to two or more of the Metsies stars (Santana, Reyes, Wright, Beltran, etc.), the Mets are the clear favorite to win the East… look no further than the improved bullpen that was discussed on citifieldblog.com yesterday. If Santana doesn’t start on Opening Day, so be it. What matters is that he gets healthy, even if that means he misses one or two starts.

We look forward to hearing from you, the die-hard Mets fan. You can always reach us via email… scott@citifieldblog.com