It is a rare injury among pitchers, and Johan Santana was one of the unlucky ones to be diagnosed with it. He suffered a torn capsule in his left shoulder and has been recovering from his surgery that took place on September 14th of last year.
So what does this mean for the southpaw next season?
Well, he certainly won't be on the mound at all for spring training—that's for sure. General manager Sandy Alderson said that he is expected to make a late June to early July return.
That's positive news for the Mets rotation, as they would be regaining one of their best starting pitchers.
But will Santana ever be able to fully recover from this devastating injury?
Chien-Ming Wang and Mark Prior both suffered the same injury as Johan and both went through the same surgery. Their skills never quite recovered to the levels they were at prior to the injury.
The early-June-to-late-July timetable is one that has been put together under the assumption that Santana makes a full recovery. There's a chance that Johan might not play next season at all.
What does this mean for the Mets? A big hole in their rotation.
Losing Santana for an entire season will be a huge loss. However, even if he returns, there is a high chance that Santana won't be the same pitcher again.
Santana's biggest concern through all of this isn't the fact that he may not play all that much in the coming season; he told new manager Terry Collins that he doesn't want to be a distraction to the team. Collins assured him that he won't be. He wants Santana to be a leader for the team in his downtime and to help coach with the bullpen.
May 1st is said to be the earliest that Santana will be seeing action with practices. It will start with just a simple throw and catch on the sidelines and will progress to mound time at practice.
The Mets hope to have him back by the All-Star break.
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