Joel Sherman
Blog: Hardball
If you are a Mets fan, you certainly are familiar with their troubles — on and off the field.
Their defense is suspect. Their roster is thin. And did we mention that Madoff fellow? Ownership is deplored, Jose Reyes is in Miami and yet another season of an injury epidemic already is underway in Port St. Lucie.
The storyline around the Mets for a long while has been about misery — from finances to the field.
Yet after spending a week with the Mets this spring, I came away feeling their biggest problem was not their weaknesses, but their strengths. Or more aptly, their lack of them.
Anthony J. Causi
Jason Bay
Even bad teams generally have an area of the team that is viewed as a real asset to build hope, wins and possibly a future around — a good up-the-middle defense, a power-laden lineup, strong lefty pitching. Something.
But in my unofficial survey of what Mets officials see as their best qualities, they pointed to four areas that — at best — will need heaping helpings of good fortune to actually play out well enough to keep the Mets out of the NL East cellar. Here they are:
1. JOHAN SANTANA: I actually was shocked at how relatively unrestrained Mets officials were on Santana returning as an ace. The guy did miss all of last season. He did have a shoulder injury similar to Chien-Ming Wang, who missed the better parts of two seasons trying to make it back.
Even if we give Santana points for being a terrific athlete and savvy competitor, he still is wading into pretty uncharted territory. If you were an oddsmaker in Vegas, what would you make the over/under on number of 2012 starts for Santana? Ten? Fifteen? Eighteen? It certainly wouldn’t be 25-30.
Already manager Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen have plotted an early season rotation plan in which Santana would get an extra day’s rest for his first seven starts. It is cautious and smart. It also is not the design for someone you should think of as a strength of your team.
If you are a Mets fan, look at this way: If there were a 33-year-old pitcher in another camp who missed all of last season with a serious shoulder ailment, what would you think of his chances of making a full comeback this year?
You can understand why the Mets are hoping for a full revival from Santana beyond that he is the highest-paid player in team history. The Mets simply have no rotation depth after a front five of Santana, R.A. Dickey, Dillon Gee, Jonathon Niese and Mike Pelfrey. So it is not only that the Mets would lose their No. 1 starter without Santana, but that they have no good options at No. 6.
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Mets, the Mets, Mets fan, JOHAN SANTANA
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