New York Mets’ Johan Santana might miss opening day next season – MLB Update
With spring training now round the corner, the New York Mets suffered another blow when general manager Sandy Alderson announced that starting pitcher Johan Santana might not be available for opening day of the next season. The Mets have already lost their
home-grown All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins and it seems as if the problems will continue to pile for the National League East side.
Alderson cited Santana’s shoulder injury as the reason for this doubt, but stressed that should there be any improvement, the pitcher would return to the rotation on the opening day. Santana has not featured in Major League Baseball since his September 2010
surgery and it remains to be seen as to when will there be an improvement in this matter.
“We do have some question marks, of course, with Santana being one of them,” Alderson said of the lefty’s return from his September 2010 shoulder surgery. “We think he’s going to be ready, but he might not be. That’s where the [pitching] depth becomes important.”
The Mets have been conservative in the free agent market this year and the management is focused to spend on the bull-pen. The management believes that there is enough strength in the offence to tackle the teams in the Majors, but pitching is one department
where a significant boost is required. With alterations to Citi Field in place as well, conditions will be more neutral for the batters as compared to the last three years, when this was renowned as a pitchers’ ballpark.
One question that continues to haunt the Mets is the inflexibility in the payroll. The Mets would have loved to see Reyes in their ranks for 2012, but it was the monetary issue that did not let this deal to materialise.
In the NL East, almost all teams have revamped their roster and – rest assured – competition is expected to be intense in this division. The Mets need to answer their bull-pen calls sooner than later and this decision will be imperative in deciding the fate
of this team for the next season. It will be interesting to see how this team performs during the next season.
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