That is to say: Johan Santana, throwing off a mound at Mets minicamp yesterday, appeared to be just fine. He felt good and was happy and couldn’t wait to get back out there. The left-elbow surgery in September went well, and he says, “Once they took those [bone chips] out, I felt relieved right away.” This is all great. Now that he’s healthy, Mets fans would appreciate if he could pitch every game this year. Thanks.
Santana might well be needed that often, or at least need to be cloned, because two more potential Mets starting pitchers went off the market yesterday. Ben Sheets signed with the A’s for $10 million, far more than the Mets were willing to pay, and Jon Garland inked a one-year deal with San Diego for $4.7 million, a little more than the Mets were willing to pay. That leaves, to our calculations, the following guys:
Erik Bedard
Livan Hernandez
Braden Looper
Pedro Martinez
John Smoltz
Jarrod Washburn
You know, it’s a little scary that that the two most likely signees on that list are a Brave Mets fans will never accept and a former closer Mets fans will never forgive.
Hey, but Johan’s healthy!