Well This Sucks

For months, the elated face of Johan Santana, pictured in the New York Times that penultimate day of the 2008 season, has sustained me throughout another cold and champion-less offseason.

I've written of that picture before. There's just something about that photo, equal parts joy, determination, and accomplishment. None of it foretold the gloom that was to come the next afternoon.

Retrospectively, when the news of Johan's torn meniscus came out days after the season ended, the Mets' failure to make the playoffs almost seemed like a blessing in disguise. It was still disappointing, but it would have been hard to see Team Tightrope win a World Series, so anything to protect our ace was ultimately a good thing.

Well, zoom forward six months and an otherwise exciting time of year has a major pall cast over it. Every time you read a report about the situation with Johan's elbow it tells you something different. One minute he's flying back to New York for tests, the next minute he's staying put. One minute he's definitely not pitching the opener, the next it's not so fast, maybe he will.

It's enough to make your head spin, and if you've let the recession get to you, it's enough to make you seriously pessimistic.

I mean, what could possibly be so nebulous about this situation? How could it be, more than a month before the season starts, that Johan would definitely not be ready for Opening Day, but he'd be fine to pitch the Mets' fourth game?

I don't know how they do all this stuff, I grant that, but something about it doesn't feel right. I'm worried this elbow injury is more serious than they're letting on. I'm worried Paul Krugman's been right all along about the stimulus bill, and that Orlando Hudson was the right man for the job at second, and that Bernie Madoff is the real reason we never went after Manny Ramirez, and that my worlds are crashing together.

Maybe there's nothing to it after all, but what if there is? What kind of expectations can we have for a Johan-less 2009 Mets? Recent Mets teams have flourished with mediocre starting pitching, but I fear an-Ollie, Pelf, John Maine-led rotation complemented by Tim Redding and the ghost of Freddy Garcia would be an insurmountable new low.

Feel better, Johan. Fast.

- A.F.O.M.G.