So what's it going to take?
What more does Mets general manager Omar Minaya need to do to prove he's the wrong man with the wrong plan to bring the World Series back to the National League side of New York? How much more damage must be done before the Wilpons, who've embraced Minaya's philosophy and provided him with the league's biggest payrolls throughout his five years in Flushing, realize they're not getting anywhere near their money's worth? Think about it.
His high-priced team has produced only one playoff appearance and has been a disaster on the field for most of the past three seasons. He embarrassed the organization with his well-publicized mishandling of the firing of then-manager Willie Randolph, who was pink-slipped in the middle of the night after a West Coast game last summer. Then, just a month ago, during a press conference to announce the deserved firing of player development director Tony Bernazard, Minaya vindictively tried to smear the reputation of the Daily News reporter who had exposed Bernazard's boorish, bullying behavior.
Now comes the Johan Santana fiasco.
Santana is the Mets' highest-paid player and most valuable commodity, a top-shelf pitching ace on a staff that has no real No. 2 starter. He's in only the second season of a six-year, $137.5 million contract. He is the foundation on which any championship hopes for 2010 will be built, the player this team can least afford to lose.
So why did Minaya, knowing Santana had been experiencing soreness in his left elbow for more than a month, allow him to continue pitching during a season that was already lost? Why didn't Minaya shut him down in July, after Santana's elbow was evaluated around the All-Star break, rather than risk serious injury to an arm in which the Mets have invested so much?
"It wasn't a serious elbow issue, but he was checked out," Minaya said earlier this week when he announced that Santana would undergo season-ending, arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. "He was able to pitch with the discomfort. It just so happened the discomfort just recently got to the point where we felt that we needed to look at it more."
It just so happened? Mets manager Jerry Manuel said Monday that Santana hadn't thrown between starts since before the break. And the change in the pitcher's numbers after June 1 should've sounded an alarm.
The 30-year-old, two-time Cy Young Award winner was 7-2 with a 1.77 ERA and averaged nearly 12 strikeouts per nine innings through the end of May. Since then, he was 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA and averaged only 5-1/2 strikeouts per nine innings.
It wasn't until Santana complained about the worsening soreness in his elbow after his last start, however, that the Mets sent him for Tuesday's fateful MRI exam, which effectively ended his streak of five consecutive seasons with at least 200 innings pitched.
Minaya said he expects Santana, who underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage from his left knee in October, to fully recover and be ready for spring training when in February.
But will Santana, the 12th Mets player to go on the disabled list this season, be the same? Minaya can only hope.
He got a pass from the Wilpons this season because so many of the Mets' front-line players -- a list that includes David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and John Maine -- have been injured.
Remember, though: There were concerns about Santana's elbow after his 2007 season, when the Minnesota Twins were eager to trade him, and Minaya still wanted him.
So if Santana doesn't come all the way back, if the Mets wasted all that money, Minaya might not survive another season.
That might be, finally, more than the Wilpons can take.
(Ray McNulty is a columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida. This column reflects his opinion. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com.)
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