In yesterday's Record, Steve Popper and Bob Klapisch coauthored a tower on Johan Santana's slow recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, intimating that so discouraged are the Mets with Santana's progress that they're seriously considering shutting down his rehabilitation.
One extremity of the Mets` organization said that the squad is set to close down the rehabilitation schedule for Santana if he does not feel comfortable after what is expected to be a simple session of playing catch.
This strikes me as saying something while not really saying anything at all. It takes very little imagination to see it to mean, "Some random person associated with the Mets thinks that if things start going really bad in Santana's recovery that'd he'll be asked to dim down the rehab timetable." Well, duh. Internally, the Mets believe they`ll be "lucky" if Santana pitches this year.
As no one in the Mets' organization was actually quoted in the article, it's not realize why the authors chose to enclose "lucky" in quotes here. All other source material was paraphrased, so unless our anonymous team official agreed to go on tape for only one word, we can only reason that "lucky" was meant to be interpreted in that casually ironic way typically reserved for denigration (e.g. Nickelback is a "rock band"), which leave just leave readers (including yours truly) more perplexed by its use here.
Popper is a square shooter, though Klapisch has rarely said a gracious thing around the Mets in the preceding two decades (in tepid defense, the Mets have been bad for lots of the final 20 years). So far, nobody has stepped up to sustain the story, though it has been refuted by Santana and the Mets. In describing his rehab, Santana had this to say:
"There's nothing new. We're keeping track of everything. After I'm done working, I'm fine. It takes time. I recognize that. I yet get to go slow, because whatever you need to do, regardless, you're arm is passing to say you something else. That's why this work is very slow."
...
"How can anyone who isn't me know how I find and say I'm behind? How can I be behind if there's no timetable? All we love is that it takes a long time. And no one is certain how long or how I will react to the program. Other people have had this, and they're not me."
He too said this: "I don't know who's saying that I'm not make or whatever because according to everything, the way it has been done, we're good on the proper course and where we're alleged to be. Whoever is saying that I'm not ready I remember is lying.
But those are only printed words! Here it is directly from the workhorse's mouth:
If there's something amiss with the progression of Santana's rehab, pitching coach Dan Warthen isn't saying anything: "We've been actually sneaking him back a pair of extra feet each time without him really learned it, but I suppose he does recognize it. The arm is running in great position - he's getting it up. He's missed a day here and there, but he's gone back-to-back because he lost [on] his wife's birthday. We gave him an additional day there. So everything is going good on target, maybe a little bit ahead."
The Mets would be understandably reluctant to discover any information about Santana's stalled progress, as the certainty of no Santana in 2011 might be the death knell for whatever slim hopes the Mets have of contending this season. But unless or until someone of more considerable gravitas than a "member of the Mets' organization" comes forth to affirm Santana's setback during rehabilitation, I'll be busy watching spring training games and whittling sticks.
No comments:
Post a Comment