EARLY EXIT: Johan Santana, who lost his last five starts with a 15.63 ERA, was placed on the disabled list after an MRI exam showed he an inflammation of his lower back. His season ends with a 6-9 record in 21 starts. (Paul J. Bereswill)
Johan Santana can spend the next six months trying to shake off his aches and pains.
The Mets’ 33-year-old left-hander will not pitch again this season, after the team yesterday placed him on the disabled list with an inflammation of the lower back. The decision to shut him down came after Mets brass received the results of an MRI exam taken on Tuesday.
“It’s too bad I have to go down like this, but it’s part of the game,” Santana said before the Mets’ 5-2loss to the Rockies last night.
Santana won’t need surgery, according to general manager Sandy Alderson, but there was fear that allowing him to continue pitching might adversely affect Santana’s surgically repaired left shoulder.
“At this point I’m very confident he will be back next season and ready to go and hopefully in a stronger position than he was coming into this season,” Alderson said.
The Mets still owe Santana $31 million beyond this season, which includes a $5.5 million buyout if his option isn’t picked up for 2014.
Santana, who went 6-9 with a 4.85 ERA in 21 starts after missing last year recovering from surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder, said the lower back has bothered him for about two weeks, but it became pronounced during his start in Washington on Friday.
This marks the fourth straight year Santana won’t finish the season. In 2009, he underwent September surgery to remove bone fragments from his left elbow. The following September he tore the anterior capsule in his shoulder and last year he did not pitch in the majors. Though he finished the 2008 season with the Mets, he later underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
This winter will be different for Santana.
“I’ve got an opportunity to rest and not do major rehab throughout the offseason — that is something I’m happy about,” said Santana, who last year began throwing in December. “I’m very positive that everything is going to be fine.”
Santana had five straight losses, during which he posted a 15.63 ERA — becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to allow at least six runs in five straight starts.
Last month, he was placed on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle. After three weeks of rest, he returned to make starts against the Braves and Nationals.
“We’ve tried to make it really clear that in the big scope of things this has been a real positive year for him,” manager Terry Collins said. “From what I’ve seen this year, I know we’re going to have a good pitcher with some rest.”
Santana’s roller-coaster season included pitching the first no-hitter in Mets history, on June 1 against the Cardinals. Santana threw 134 pitches that night, but Alderson said there’s no evidence linking the pitcher’s recent struggles to overuse during the no-hitter.
“I don’t have any second thoughts over the way it was handled,” Alderson said. “This is a back issue that was preceded by an ankle issue, neither of which pre-existed at the time of the no-hitter — this has not been a shoulder issue. So from that standpoint I don’t see a direct correlation.’’
“As good an explanation as any is this is a substantial number of innings that have been pitched over the course of this season following a season of no activity other than rehab and this just might be … his body starting to complain.”
Santana said it won’t be easy calling it a season.
“I wanted to keep pitching, but at the same time I’m listening to [doctors],” he said. “They said everything I’ve done has been a lot and that at some point I have to take some rest.”