Santana to Toss Thursday, Duda Playing Winter Ball

Photo taken by Michael Baron

In an article you can read here, on ESPN New York.com, Terry Collins said that Johan Santana will go four innings for the Savannah Sand Gnats Thursday in a rehab assignment.  Johan will be throwing in game 3 of the South Atlantic League’s championship series that night.  While this doesn’t necessarily mean Johan will make a start for the big club this season, continuing his rehab in preparation for next season is always a good idea.  Since we’re talking about next year…

Apparently, Lucas Duda intends on playing winter ball in Venezuela despite the team asking him not to do so.  According to the same article as above, both the Mets and Duda seem to have some solid logic here.  The team doesn’t want him to play because they feel that he’s had a huge workload this season and probably should take the offseason to rest.  Duda, on the other hand, is so determined to learn right field and become a better ball player that he feels the extra time will help him, and the team, in the long run.

While I get the team’s desire to protect an asset, and probably starting right fielder next season, I think Duda’s got the right idea.  Keep working.  He’s young and his body can rebound.  He knows that the better of a fielder he can become, the more likely he’ll be able to play everyday and late into games for the team next season.  I do not blame him, and I like his motivation, it’s nice to see.  Also, after injuries and whatnot, I wouldn’t listen to anything the organization says as they seem to be a bit “off” on a lot of fronts.  Good for Duda.  Way to try to constantly improve…