Johan Santana may make the decision whether to shut him down real easy.
Before last night’s game, the Mets had decided the two-time Cy Young winner was going to stay in the rotation and make his scheduled start on Thursday against the Rockies. After the 3-1 loss to the Rockies, however, manager Terry Collins said Santana’s status is now in question because he will have an MRI exam on his back today.
Santana had already been dealing with lower back pain, but he had declared it as nothing more than minor after his bullpen session yesterday, noting it would not prevent him from pitching.
“He came in stiffer today than he had been,” said Collins. “They got him loosened up, he threw his pen, felt fine when he was done, got a little tight, had the doctor look at it and the doctors thought they should take a look at it [today].”
Hours after stating Santana was healthy enough to pitch on Thursday, Collins said he didn’t have any immediate plans to scratch the 33-year-old, but knows he may have to.
“Depending on what they come up with [today] after the MRI [exam] and after they take a look at him, we may make some changes,” Collins said.
Santana, also dealing with lingering ankle pain that forced a stint on the disabled list earlier in the season, has struggled recently. However, after several conversations among coaches and management, the Mets had declared Santana’s comeback season after missing a year following shoulder surgery wasn’t over just yet.
“I feel that I want to compete and keep pitching,” Santana said after his bullpen session. “We’re gonna go one game at a time and see how everything goes. Then we’ll go from there and see exactly what the next step will be. I threw my bullpen and I felt good.”
If Santana does pitch, Collins said he will be on a pitch-count of fewer than 100 pitches. Collins and general manager Sandy Alderson said his situation would be reassessed after every start.
After a strong first half, Santana has accumulated a 15.63 ERA over his past five starts. Collins and Alderson said part of the reasoning for wanting to keep Santana in the rotation was so he would have something to build off next year. Now, he may not have that chance.
“We’d like him to finish on a high note,” Alderson said. “At some point there’s a diminishing return. It’s been a long year, a long offseason of rehab. Johan has accomplished actually quite a bit over the course of the season. At the appropriate time, we have to really think about next year as much as we do this year.”