Johan Santana

[Chiggidy Chester]

I'm getting the impression from things I'm reading that this guy is the real deal. He is the first guy out of the bullpen to become a starter when someone goes down in the twins rotation which could be soon as they are saying one of the starters has a sore arm (I forget which one). Anyway who that is isn't the point. The point is that I want to know what everyone else thinks of this guy as a starter. Is he a sleeper stud in the making?

[Captain Crash]

Actually, who is hurt is the point because I hadn't heard that? Who's hurting?

[Chiggidy Chester]

Here's something I just found which explains the minnesota situation. Carl Mays is the potential injury candidate......

Mays was asked to get through four or five innings in his first start, with left-hander Johan Santana preparing to pick up the slack. More important is how his elbow fares in the near future, including a scheduled start Monday at New York in the Yankees' home opener.

Already, Mays has had his between-starts bullpen sessions scratched until he no longer feels the "discomfort" in the elbow that put him on the disabled list for 3½ months last season. In November he had surgery to get rid of bone spurs.

That's the last thing the Twins needed to hear less than three weeks from stretching the already maxed-out payroll budget by $2 million to sign veteran starter Kenny Rogers to cover for Eric Milton, on the 60-day disabled list after knee surgery.

Sure, the Twins have depth to cover Mays' spot in the rotation if he falls. Santana said he is prepared to step in just as he did last year for Radke.

"Whatever the situation needs, I'll be there," Santana said. "That's the kind of job I have this year. I know that."

[cardboardbox]

that Joe to you...