Johan Santana underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder in September. At the time it was reported that the time table for rehab was 24 weeks and that he could throw at 20 weeks. That would have had him throwing — not pitching — in mid-February. As such, it seemed that it was pretty unrealistic that Santana would be ready to start the season. Sandy Alderson confirmed that yesterday:
“We’ve been told he’ll be able to begin tossing in January. But, realistically, I don’t think anybody expects him to be ready Opening Day. And, really, the question is when exactly he will be ready. Nobody has told us he’ll miss the season or anything of that sort. But I think that certainly we have to assume he’s not going to start the season.”
I think it’s fair to say that no general manager in baseball faces a tougher task than Sandy Alderson. I mean, sure, there are far worse teams, but at least in those situations you can just bulldoze everything and start over. The Mets, however, have enough pieces to be respectable, but enough problems — things like trying to find a replacement for an ace — that getting to that point is going to be really hard. Add in the managerial search and the inherent pressure that goes with New York, and it’s just a really hard job ahead of him.
