Look, I’m not a Met fan – never will be.  I mean, I root for the Mets to keep Omar Minaya around, for what it’s worth.  I think Omar Minaya should be fired for holding on to too many veterans, running Willie Randolph out of town, and his inability to handle staff members like Tony Bernazard.  He’s not easy on the NY press.  Minaya is the guy who went after the reporter who broke the Bernazard story claiming the writer wanted a front office job with the Mets.  Sounds like the perfect GM for the Mets.

I digress.

However, when I read that Johan Santana is getting an opinion on his sore elbow and might be heading to surgery, I almost felt bad for the franchise.  I like Santana, but his elbow is affecting his performance – and he wasn’t making his off-start throwing days.  He was really fighting it.  And now he’s looking at surgery.

The Mets have had more than their share of injuries.  Let’s look at the opening day starting lineup:

Jose Reyes, SS
Daniel Murphy, LF
David Wright, 3B
Carlos Delgado, 1B
Carlos Beltran, CF
Ryan Church, RF
Brian Schneider, C
Luis Castillo, 2b
Johan Santana, P

Who hasn’t missed time?  Granted – Church was traded (and then mocked by his former manager – another Minaya staffer who can’t avoid misspeaking).  However, only Murphy and Castillo (who missed 15 days, which happens) can be considered full timers – though that’s being mean to David Wright who only got injured about ten days ago…  Still – these have been disabling injuries.  That’s not counting losing Putz and Maine and Niese and Nieve and Cora and both Ramon and Fernando Martinez and then having to deal with Gary Sheffield (frequently injured both physically and mentally, frequently unfriendly) and not having the unwanted Billy Wagner either.  And, when Wagner comes back, the Mets feel the need to send him out immediately.

Until Santana gets an MRI and a doctor’s evaluation, we won’t know how long he’ll be out – but the fear is that it’s season ending.  Surgery might mean next season, too.  That’s never good, and I love watching Santana pitch.

By the way, in the same news story, Jeff Francoeur admitted that he tore a ligament in his thumb that will require surgery at the end of the year, though he will try to play through the pain.  Yikes.

Again, I’ll never be a Mets fan.  I grew up rooting for the Cubs.  But that’s a lot of injuries, and I don’t wish that on my enemies.  I wish Omar Minaya on the Mets, maybe, but not injuries.