No injured player wants to come back more this season than Johan Santana. No one has worked harder to come back, but Santana must do what’s best now and curtail his rehab and forget about 2011.
Shoulder surgery is all about time. It’s the longest, loneliest road in baseball. The time is not right for Santana.
With word last night that he is coming back to New York from Port St. Lucie to get his surgically repaired left shoulder looked at by doctors tomorrow brings new reality to the situation.
Back in March I advocated Santana take it slow and not worry about 2011, writing: Once you enter the depressing world of shoulder surgery, life is not the same for major league pitchers. I pointed to Chien-Ming Wang as evidence.
Despite all of Santana’s hard work, it still is a depressing situation, especially for the Mets, who owe Santana $77.5 million, counting this year’s $22.5 million salary.
As one top scout told me last night, “Shoulder surgery knocks you down at least three slots.”
A No. 1 like Santana becomes a No. 4, at best. Back in May when I visited Santana in Port St. Lucie he was hopeful of returning around the All-Star break. That time has come and passed. There is no need for Santana to push the envelope, and he now needs to follow his own advice.
On that day Santana said, “I’m a competitor, and I know if you rush things, whether it’s in baseball or in life, you put yourself in risk of failure.”
Santana has taken charge of his shoulder situation from Day 1. Now that the strength in the shoulder is not where he wants it to be, he needs to take it slow and shoot for 2012.
Considering the Mets’ history with injuries that is the best course of action. Same goes for Ike Davis and his ankle injury. Davis needs to do whatever he needs to do to be ready for 2012 and not worry about this season.
These 2011 Mets are not going anywhere, and last night’s dreadful 4-3 loss to Florida was more proof, as second baseman Justin Turner threw away Bryan Petersen’s one-out, ninth-inning ground ball with the bases loaded, allowing the Marlins to score two runs to take the lead.
The Mets cannot try to fool themselves or their fans into thinking that if and when Santana returns, he will resemble in any way Cy Young Santana. The type of surgery he underwent is career-threatening. Just to make it back to the mound in a major league game would be a success.
Santana is smart enough to reinvent himself as a pitcher, but he needs to take it slow. He is only 10 months removed from the surgery.
The new Mets management team needs to take this situation to the bank, too, and realize that excessive long-term contracts for pitchers rarely pay off. The Mets need to do more of what they did in the Carlos Beltran trade — acquiring Giants 2009 No. 1 pick Zack Wheeler and bring in as many quality young arms to the organization as possible. Sell, sell, sell and see where that takes them.
Sandy Alderson described the Santana situation as “lingering discomfort” in the left shoulder. Alderson went on to say that it was “prudent” to have the shoulder checked out. It sure is prudent.
For too long the Mets have underestimated to the public the seriousness of injuries. Remember when they said David Wright’s back injury would keep him out about 10 days.
The Mets need to take the worst-case scenario with injuries and go from there. If a player rebounds quicker than expected, a bad news situation becomes good news.
That is the only way to handle injury situations.
Last week Santana pitched three innings. That was his first return to the mound in a game since September. These things take so much time. He has pitched nearly 2,000 innings in the major leagues. At this point, even one more inning would be a bonus.
Santana is traveling the longest and loneliest road in baseball.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com