Johan Santana: The Lost Man of Mets Camp

One of my favorite Mets bloggers, Patrick Flood, has joined one of my favorite Mets blogs, Amazin Avenue. If you've never read Patrick's writing before, he has a way of creating vivid imagery with words that very few sports bloggers are able to do. This was a particularly interesting post about Johan Santana, with this astute observation as to why he flew under the radar before becoming an All-Star and two-time Cy Young Award winner with the Minnesota Twins:

"...at his best Santana was genius. He didn’t throw remarkably hard by major league standards, his slider was just a junky waste pitch he only threw to lefties, and he always seemed to be fighting himself. He’s not unusual physically, maybe other than being broad shouldered. There are good reasons he was never a prospect and the Astros now-famously let a young Santana go in the Rule 5 draft. His gifts were never obvious because they were always hidden away in his mind. Santana’s brilliance was not only in reconciling his body and his will in the way all great control pitchers do, but in that his will was able to dominate the physical in ways that seemed, at times, almost supernatural. Like he could actually decide, after throwing a pitch, whether it was a fastball or a changeup. Or he could cause a popup to hang in the air just long enough for the shortstop to chase it down. Or he could not only manipulate most hitters, but actually control some. As in some poor slugger like Dan Uggla didn't even have a choice as whether to swing, he just swung or didn't swing because Santana made him."

"Pelfrey has good stuff but you wonder if he just needs to get out of New York and start over."

Apparently the Mets brainstormed the idea of releasing Mike Pelfrey this Spring. A couple of comments that came out of the idea:

"...one Met made a case for retaining Pelfrey that was representative of how many players feel, saying, “If we got rid of him, he would (stick it to us).”"

"Some of his longtime rivals, observing from a distance, believe that Pelfrey would benefit from pitching in a new city, free of the expectations of a fan base that often expresses its displeasure with him.

“Pelfrey has good stuff,” said an NL East player who has faced Pelfrey for years. “But you wonder if he just needs to get out of New York and start over.”"

I hate to say 'I told you so' but back in 2006 and 2007, I was always much more impressed with Philip Humber than Mike Pelfrey, even though most scouts had them fairly even or Pelfrey a tick higher as a prospect. Even though Humber hasn't established himself as the top-notch starter a #3 overall draft pick should be, I always thought his raw intelligence gave him an upside that Pelfrey doesn't have. I can't put my finger on it but Pelfrey has a deer-in-headlights look that many small-town folks get in New York.

Likewise, I thought it should have been Pelfrey and not Humber that went to Minnesota in the Johan Santana trade. Pelfrey probably would have thrived in Minnesota and the trade would have been far more equal than anyone looking back on it today thinks. Unfortunately, we'll never know.