Johan Santana: Should the New York Mets Bring Back Their Ace in 2011?

Johan Santana has been out for the past year after suffering an injury requiring shoulder surgery. The time has finally arrived where Santana may be able to come back, as soon as this season. 

The question has become, should the New York Mets squeeze Santana in for one start before the end of the season?

NO!

Why on earth would this even be a consideration? Have the Mets not been down on their luck enough without helping it along? Santana has been pretty fragile since joining the Mets, and there is no reason to risk hope in 2012 for one insignificant start in 2011.

So what are the Mets really thinking in trying to make this decision? Selling tickets? Creating a buzz? 

Those are truly the only two logical reasons I can think of why the Mets would consider giving Santana a start, and they aren't really that logical. 

The Mets' season has been finished for over a month now—Mets fans are already disgusted and looking toward the future.

Besides, how bad would it be to the psyche of Mets fans if their ace returning from a year-long injury gets bombed in his first start back? Is that really that last mental picture you want left in the heads of your fans as your franchise moves towards a new future? Not really.

The buzz will return in 2012 when the Mets take the field with a new, younger generation of players.  One Johan Santana start in another lost season is not going to get it done, and I would highly doubt Mets fans would flock to the stadium for the simple reason of watching their ace make one unimportant start.

Somebody needs to tell Terry Collins and the Mets that the world isn't coming to an end. There will be a 2012 season, and Santana's first start of 2012 is monumentally more important than his first and last start of 2011.