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Colorado Rockies: Please Do Not Take A Waiver On Johan Santana

By Andrew Dill

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According to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports, free agent pitcher Johan Santana wants to pitch in the upcoming 2016 season, this according to his agent Peter Greenberg.

The Colorado Rockies are a team in desperate need of pitching. However, please don’t take a waiver on Johan Santana as it could possibly be another scenario such as Roy Oswalt or that of a Jon Garland — gross. Colorado has gone after this proven veteran pitchers in the past, yet it was few years too late regarding those pitchers actually being successful.

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Santana, 36, hasn’t pitched since the 2012 season, even then he wasn’t anything special. The southpaw started 21 games for the New York Mets that season, finishing the year with a 6-9 record accompanied by an ERA of 4.95. However, injury has derailed the career of what was to be a promising pitcher; a special talent in his tenure with the Minnesota Twins.

Santana is a four-time All-Star, not to mention a two-time Cy Young award winner, both with the Twins in 2004 and 2006. However, the veteran has dealt with all sorts of injuries throughout his career — you name it. Most recently, Santana suffered a setback in which he tore a capsule in his left (throwing) shoulder, ending his comeback bid. Whenever an injury happens to your throwing shoulder, velocity always becomes the topic of conversation.

In a 2014 article by CBS Sports writer Matt Snyder, he mentioned a New York Post report that Johan wasn’t anywhere near 100% as his velocity dropped off the table.

"Still, a report in the New York Post says that Santana’s fastball was sitting 77-78 miles per hour while topping out at 81. Back in his peak, Santana would sit in the low-to-mid 90s and even back in 2012 he could hit 90 and sit in the high-80s. So he’s definitely not where he once was."

That’s a bit concerning, however, this is two years later and Santana could very well be sitting low-90’s or upper-80’s for that matter. Santana’s arsenal featured a three-pitch mix; a fastball in the 87-94 MPH range, accompanied by a wipeout slider and arguably his best pitch, a circle-changeup that absolutely dropped off the table.

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I hope Johan Santana can make his way back to the Major League’s and pitch well for a club, I just don’t want to see Colorado waste time and effort on a guy who hasn’t pitched in nearly four years, given the way this franchise operates right now. Like I mentioned earlier, it would be like deja vu all over again regarding signings such as Roy Oswalt, Jon Garland or Jamie Moyer for that matter.

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