Santana is the Baryshnikov of the hands [Quote]

Watch a master at work and stand in awe. Before each start Johan Santana, the Mets' ace, struts past his teammates, smacking and fist-bumping and shimmying, as if performing a dugout Macarena, personalizing shakes for each teammate while throwing fake pitches. The innovation is ongoing (his shakes often change from week to week) and the complexity staggering—Santana is a veritable Baryshnikov of the hands, a choreographer of camaraderie.

-Chris Ballard, The Metaphysical Significance, Staggering Ubiquity
and Sheer Joy of High Fives

Read this article.  (For the lazy, the Santana part pulls from here.)

Manuel’s Musing

“Johan is that good where he’s at a stage in his career where I don’t think that much matters.”

-Jerry Manuel on Johan Santana having a personal catcher

Johan Santana handshake [Video]

Because it’s Sunday and absolutely nothing is going on, why not repost this video of awesome?

Enjoy and feel free to discuss anything Mets-related in the comments.

Your 2010 Mets rotation (as of right now)

1. Johan Santana
2. Mike Pelfrey
3. Oliver Perez
4. John Maine
5. Fernando Nieve

According to Ken Davidoff, Omar Minaya said that as of now, Nieve is penciled in as the fifth starter in the rotation.  Davidoff further clarifies that Nieve is ahead of Jon Niese as the Mets “want to take it slow” with Niese.

He also mentioned that the Mets still want to add another arm, be it John Smoltz, Jon Garland or Ben Sheets (not in that order).

Santana tosses 24 pitches

I would hope Johan Santana isn’t in regular-season form. 
It’s still January.

Santana to throw from mound Tuesday

Johan Santana will test his surgically cleaned up arm on Tuesday and will throw from the mound.

“I’m feeling good,” Santana told the AP. “Time will tell, but I am feeling good.”

In other words: Tomorrow is a big day for Mets fans.  All signs point to Santana being OK, but I won’t be comfortable until he throws pain-free.

The AP also reports that Oliver Perez is pain-free.  I can’t quite figure out if that’s good or bad news for Mets fans.

Championship Round: David Wright vs. Johan Santana

The moment we’ve all been waiting for: The 2009 Met of the Year Championship Round voting!

Vote for your pick based on his ability at the plate, on the mound, in the field, off the field, looks, style or anything you so choose.

Voting ends Wednesday at 10 a.m.

2009 Met of the Year: Championship Round is set

It’s a re-match!

The 2009 Met of the Year award is down to two players.  Both No. 1 seeds have advanced the entire way and David Wright and Johan Santana will face off on Monday to see who is crowned the 2009 MotY.

Check back Monday morning for the poll.

Below is the full bracket from the 2009 MotY…Ed. note: I’m heading back up to Connecticut today for my last semester of college.  Crazy, I know.  If anything happens during my ride up, I’ll be sure to post something when I arrive.

2009 Met of the Year: Final Four

The Final Four is set for the 2009 Met of the Year. 

Two one-seeds and two six-seeds.  A starting pitcher, the ace of the staff.  The third baseman, the face of the franchise.  And two center fielders, one, a backup who filled in during an injury plagued season and the other, the All-Star who missed half the year due to a bone bruise.

David Wright will take on Carlos Beltran
and
Johan Santana will take on Angel Pagan.

Voting resumes on Monday.

Link: Mets should trade Johan Santana

Here’s an idea: Mets should trade Santana
By Bob Klapisch

I wholeheartedly disagree.  Have at it in the comments to explain your opinion.

Link: Johan’s home

Head over to The New York Times to read a fascinating story about Johan Santana’s annual pilgrimage back to his hometown in Venezuela.

SNY was on hand to tape the events, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing it at a later date.

I love Johan more and more each day.

Santana behind Blanco signing

According to Ben Shpigel of The New York Times, Johan Santana was very active in recruiting catcher Henry Blanco to the Mets.

Blanco and Santana played on the same Minnesota Twins team in 2004. 

That season, Blanco played in 114 games for the Twins.  Blanco caught 24 of Santana’s starts.  Check out the stats in those starts here.

For the Mets, whatever Santana asks for, you give him.  And as quickly as possible.

Link: Rubin chock full of info

Adam Rubin’s latest blog post is teeming with info from day one of the GM Meetings in Chicago.

In brief…

• Matt Holliday and Jason Bay are likely too expensive.
• Mike Cameron is a longshot.
• The Mets really want to trade Luis Castillo.
• The free agent catching market is terrible.
• The Mets want to re-sign Alex Cora.
• Tim Redding and Jeremy Reed will probably be non-tendered.
• Johan Santana and Jose Reyes are healing.  Santana will pitch on his normal winter schedule, while Reyes is now walking sans-crutches.

For more, head over to Rubin’s blog.

Go-Go Gomez feels sorry for the Mets

In no way, shape or form would I ever undo the Mets trade of Johan Santana.  Two surgeries or no surgeries, Santana has meant more to the fans of the Mets than Carlos Gomez (and those three other guys) ever will.

But, it was quite sad to watch Go-Go Gomez slide across home plate on Saturday night, propelling the Minnesota Twins into the playoffs.  Especially while Santana sits at home resting and recuperating.

The Daily News caught up with Gomez, who had this to say about his former teammates…

"I am sorry for the Mets," said Gomez. "I am hurt too. I spent five or six years with the Mets, and I see how they collapse. When your friends hurt, you hurt too. That's baseball, you can do nothing about it.

"Johan has done a good job. They traded Johan for me, he does a good job there and I think I do a good job here."

I always liked Gomez as a emotional player, sort of the poor-mans Jose Reyes.

Anyways, go Twins, go Rockies, go Cardinals and go Angels.  Go-Go Gomez.

I wonder what Johan Santana is thinking

…Or something with a lot more expletives and exclamation points.

All while sitting on his pile of money and weeping to himself.

Santana nominated for Roberto Clemente Award

Johan Santana has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, annually given out to “the Major League Baseball player who combines a dedication to giving back to the community with outstanding skills on the baseball field.”

Among other things, here’s why Santana was nominated…

He created the Johan Santana Foundation, which provides funding for programs that focus on education and healthcare domestically and abroad. The Foundation supports youth baseball and other children's charities in Venezuela and Tovar Merida, where he has helped build schools, hospitals and sports facilities.

Santana personally delivered a fire truck he donated to his hometown to replace a beaten up pick-up truck that was ill-equipped to do the job, and sent several firefighters to train the town's fire department. He will return home again this December to hand out Christmas gifts to youngsters at his fourth annual Holiday Party.

To vote for the national winner of this year’s Clemente Award, click here.

Successful surgeries for Santana and Perez

The Mets sure are keeping Dr. David Altcheck busy.

From the Mets…

FLUSHING, N.Y., September 1, 2009 - The New York Mets today announced that lefthanded pitchers Johan Santana and Oliver Perez each underwent successful surgery this morning at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Santana had successful arthroscopic removal of multiple bone fragments from his left elbow. Perez underwent successful removal of scar tissue from the patella tendon of his right knee.

Santana and Perez are both expected to make full recoveries and be ready for 2010 Spring Training.

Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek performed both procedures.

Santana and Perez to have surgery tomorrow

Guess they’re getting the 2-for-1 deal.

From the Mets…

The New York Mets today announced that lefthanded pitchers Johan Santana and Oliver Perez will each undergo surgery tomorrow at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Santana will have bone chips removed from his left elbow; Perez will have scar tissue removed from the patella tendon of his left knee. Both procedures will be performed by Mets Medical Director Dr. David Altchek and Mets Team Physician Dr. Struan Coleman.

Figgy fantastic as Mets stave off sweep

When Johan Santana went down for the season, the man filling his spot in the rotation had some pretty big shoes to fill.  Today, Nelson Figueroa was as good as you could ask for.

Seven innings of six-hit baseball saw Figueroa through his longest outing of the season.  While on the mound, Figueroa struck out 10 Cubs, nine in the first four inning, a career high strikeout count.

Figueroa allowed one run in the first inning, but bounced back from there, allowing only five hits over the next six inning.

I love Figueroa and always have since he came up last year.  Glad he’s putting together some starts and maybe showing the Mets he can be a fifth starter next year.  Maybe.

Brian Stokes turned in a 1-2-3 8th inning and Francisco Rodriguez saved the game after a bit of pressure.  Kosuke Fukudome led off the inning with a single and Jeff Francoeur dropped Jake Fox’s pop-up, but was able to throw out Fukudome at second.

Never easy.

The Mets got a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively.

In the third, the Mets stitched singles from Angel Pagan, Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur together to drive in two runs.  Murphy and Francoeur each picked up an RBI with their singles.

In the fourth, Brian Schneider hit a one-out single.  Schneider was chased in by an Anderson Hernandez triple.  Figueroa helped his own cause with an RBI single of his own, driving in Hernandez from third.

Eleven hits off of Carlos Zambrano is no small task.  A good few innings from the Mets, but went fairly quiet from there on out, picking up only one hit the rest of the game. 

Luckily, it was enough. 

This time.

Omar’s follies

Yesterday’s conference call said a lot about Omar Minaya.

I understand the Mets have had an unbelievable amount of injuries, but most fans can probably recall the relatively short list of maladies suffered by their No. 1 pitcher, Johan Santana.  Not so for the general manager of the team.

During the conference call, Minaya confessed that he could not remember Santana’s injuries during spring training.  Remember, this one?

He also went on to say that he had not spoken to Santana.

These things scare me.

Minaya should be able to easily recall these injuries, especially ones to his very expensive pitcher and crutch of the franchise.  That he hadn’t spoken to him that day is equally frightening.

Minaya seems out of touch with the team, and that’s not a good thing.

For a great column on the Mets, check out Joel Sherman’s piece in the NY Post today.