The New York Mets free themselves of another Omar Minaya burden. Johan Santana will no longer be a New York Met as the injury plagued lefty was released by the organization on Thursday afternoon. How much was he given? How much was he owed?
Had the Mets idiotically extended the lefty, then they would have owed the two-time Cy Young Award winner $25 million. However, after missing the entire 2011 and 2013 seasons, enough was enough. It is not that Santana was a bad signing, but at six years, $137.5 million, it is hard to describe the deal as productive.
In four seasons with the Mets, Santana went 46-34 with a 3.18 ERA. He was an All-Star once in 2009, but that was all. He also only pitched one full season with the Mets and that came in 2008, when the team blew a huge lead at the end of the season. It was Santana's first season with the team and things looked great for the Mets. Santana went 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA in 34 starts. It was the only year he pitched more than 30 games and over 200 innings.
All in all, injuries plagued Santana's career in New York. Consider it bad luck, but the Mets did not get their money's worth as Santana did not provide what the team was looking for when they originally signed him. He was a glimpse of the pitcher who took the Minnesota Twins to the playoffs on multiple occasions. Furthermore, the Mets had a decent pitching staff, at best, that could not perform when Santana was out of the rotation.
However, the Mets are now under new management and they will look to change the culture that dominated the team's front office in the previous decade. There is a focus on player development rather than searching to buy championships like the New York Yankees. The Mets are bargaining and trying to get deals like the sigining of Marlon Byrd. The right fielder was productive and barely cost the Mets a thing.
Santana will be remembered as one of the most dominant lefties of his generation, but his better days were not in a Mets uniform unless you count the no-hitter he threw against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012.
