PORT ST. LUCIE — Saying he wants to be “extra, extra, extra cautious,” Jerry Manuel confirmed today he is pushing back Johan Santana’s first spring-training start a minimum of several days.
Santana was supposed to pitch this morning against Italy’s WBC representative but was scratched Thursday because of soreness in his left elbow.
The Mets said Santana would make his first start Tuesday here against the Cardinals, but Manuel put the kibosh on that, too, saying the club isn’t taking any chances whatsoever with its $137.5 million ace.
Santana, who has been given the weekend off to relax, now could miss as little as a couple of days next week or an entire turn in the rotation.
“There’s no hurry with Johan in spring training if he’s experiencing any discomfort,” Manuel told reporters after the Mets’ 9-8 Grapefruit League loss to the Cardinals at Tradition Field.
Manuel, however, said the club has no plans to send Santana back to New York for an MRI exam.
“It probably will be more like days than [missing] a turn,” Manuel said. “Even if it is a turn, I’m not concerned with it. I’m not concerned with it at all. Not at all. He’s chomping and he wants to do things — no, no, no, no. We’re just going to be very, very cautious.”
Santana had left the Mets’ Tradition Field complex by the time of Manuel’s announcement, but a source close to the star lefty insisted Santana is fine.
“He said that it was normal tightness, that he gets that [soreness] every spring training,” said the source, who had spoken to Santana. “Since it is a long spring training, they will just take it slow.”
Santana had arthroscopic surgery Oct. 1 on torn cartilage in his left knee, didn’t think the tightness in his elbow was related to rushing back from the knee surgery too soon, but rather from overuse early in camp.
“I’ve been throwing bullpens here every other day, and I don’t think I’ve ever done that in the past,” Santana said Thursday. “The reason why is because we wanted to test my knee and make sure everything is fine, throwing every other day off the mound.”
He threw off a mound for the first time since the offseason surgery on Feb. 10 and has faced no setbacks with the leg.
“My knee is fine,” the two-time AL Cy Young Award winner said. “There’s no problem, but it takes some time to get adjusted to pitching and throwing 100 percent off the mound, so right now I am just taking my time. There is no need to rush. My focus is on April 6 (Opening Day).”
With AP