Johan Santana's Injury: "Don't Worry 'Bout It"

As we all know, Mets ace pitcher Johan Santana has slight tendinitis above his left elbow. This is something that everybody affiliated with the Mets will naturally worry about, but I'm here to tell you not to worry too much.

I myself am a little concerned, but I won't push my positive thoughts aside. It's only the fourth day of spring training; there's a whole lot of time left for Johan to recover.

Santana won't be playing for his home country, Venezuela, in the World Baseball Classic, so that's a good thing for him and the Mets. He will have plenty of time to rest his arm.

He won't be pitching his first game in spring training this week, and it's likely he won't be pitching next week.

There's talk that he might even miss his Opening Day start against the Cincinnati Reds; I'm really hoping that he doesn't miss that start, for various reasons, but if he does, we can't be screaming and hollering. It's our job as fans to keep our cool. 

It's still not even 100 percent certain that Santana won't pitch Opening Day. Johan and the Mets are just making sure we're prepared for the worst.

We wouldn't want them to be lying to us, just like they wouldn't want to lie to us. The organization is just putting forth the truth, and that's great.

We all wonder why celebrities are prone to not speak the truth. We are the reason, and if you're overreacting to Santana's injury, you're just reinforcing their ideas about fans.

I'm not saying don't worry about it at all, but don't cry yourself to sleep.

The Mets didn't send Johan back to New York to get an MRI, but I'm sure they are considering it. That's the best thing they can do, because if something is wrong, then he can rest for the rest of spring training and will have plenty of time to get better. If they don't find anything, that's a big relief, and Santana can take little steps in spring training to rehab.

I just think this whole scenario is being exaggerated. If this was Ramon Martinez, we wouldn't be thinking, "Oh, he's not going to be able to be on the bench on Opening Day!"

I know that it's different with a club's biggest and best players. But fans getting upset about this injury occurring to Santana wouldn't necessarily get upset if it occurred to one of the team's lesser-known players.

It's ironic, because in both cases, it just takes a couple weeks of relaxation for the guy to get back out there.

Worst-case scenario: The Mets will have to push Johan back in the rotation and have their No. 2 pitcher pitch against the Reds. It's not like they're playing the American League All-Stars on Opening Day.

So, like we say in New York and Las Vegas, "Don't worry 'bout it" (I'm looking at you, Marshman).

We Mets fans are hoping for the best; my words of wisdom are "Keep your cool."

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