On February 2nd 2008, the Mets managed to pull off a trade that would bring ace pitcher Johan Santana to Flushing in exchange for a handful of good young prospects. Fortunately for New York, the prospects never developed into anything spectacular, with the exception to Carlos Gomez, who has become a halfway decent outfielder for the Brewers. However, the team made a huge mistake in signing him to a giant, lucrative contract extension. It was a six year deal worth $137.5 million, and Santana immediately had the responsibility of bringing the franchise back on its feet again.
In hindsight, the trade was approved by the fans, and Omar Minaya thought that Santana would live up to his contract. Unfortunately it hasn't worked out the way that he envisioned it, and the Mets are now stuck with one more painful year of Santana's countless amount of injuries.
Don't get me wrong, Santana has been great when healthy. As a matter of fact, he has a combined 3.18 ERA in 109 starts as a Met. When on the field, we can expect him to be an ace. 2008 was his only true full season as a New York Met, a season in which he started 34 games and posted a league leading 2.53 ERA. However, small, minor injuries began to hit Santana during the 2009-2010 seasons, and the left hander was forced to undergo major shoulder surgery that wiped out his entire 2011 season.
Santana was, for the most part, had a positive 2012 season, especially when you consider the severity of the surgery he had. He did make a great story when he tossed the first no-hitter in Mets history on June 1, but after that it was all downhill. Unfortunately he was eventually shut down for the season, missing the last 4-5 weeks of play.
Coming into the 2013 season, Santana made a mistake in expressing his interest in pitching for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. For a guy coming off yet another injury, his main focus should have been to get fully prepared for the season, given that the team would rely on him heavily due to the loss of R.A. Dickey, and because it was his contract year. I'm not knocking Johan Santana's attitude here, because he is a great-character guy, however this was sort of a selfish move on his side.
I understand his obedience to his country, however I feel like he should realize that he owes the Mets one more solid season before departing. Saying that he has "stolen" the $137.5 million would probably be a tad bit harsh, but he definitely hasn't done enough to fully earn all of it. Another incentive for Santana is that he actually has a team option (that could actually turn into a vesting option if he meets the requirements on the Cy Young voting or innings pitched) worth $25 million for next season. The option give him that extra push to do all the little things right this season, like, show up to camp without any injury problems, or not asking to pitch for another team.
Right now, Santana is most likely going to start the season on the disabled list, and the team will have to rely on a pitcher like Jon Niese or Shaun Marcum to take his role as the Opening Day pitcher in the meantime. I honestly have no clue as to how this Santana situation is going to play out this season. Sometimes his production is so low that I even forget that he is still on this team. He is going to need to step up in 2013, not only because he is heading into free agency next off-season, but because he owes it to the fans of the Mets.
