From Newsday
Mets Introduce Johan Santana
BY DAVID LENNON, dave.lennon@newsday.com
February 6, 2008, 7:43 PM EST
The Mets welcomed Johan Santana to Shea Stadium Wednesday with a video that featured Alec Baldwin, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld gushing about the greatness of New York.
Very shortly, it will be Santana's turn to show this city, his new home, why the two-time Cy Young winner is the missing piece to a championship team.
Only 24 hours after the Giants' triumphant parade up the Canyon of Heroes, here was Santana, who many believe will make the same thing happen for the Mets, putting on his No. 57 in blue and orange.
"I'm looking forward to us .celebrating that way, too," said Santana, who watched the confetti storm on TV at his hotel. "Hopefully, that time will be soon and we'll be able to bring that to the city and have fun with them."
Fun is something the Mets lacked last September, when their free fall erased a seven-game division lead with 17 games left. But now that Santana resides in Flushing, it would seem almost impossible for history to repeat itself. Not with him and Pedro Martinez at the top of the rotation, a virtually ironclad insurance policy against extended losing streaks. It's just a .matter of who gets the ball first.
Willie Randolph still has seven weeks to decide on his Opening Day starter, and given the friendly rivalry that is sure to develop between these two, it might not be as easy as it appears. Put it this way: Randolph wasn't ready to commit Wednesday to Santana, who just signed a six-year, $137.5-million contract.
"I've got a little while to think about that," Randolph said. "I've got two stoppers, man. Two legitimate stoppers. So I'm sure it will be a pleasant choice."
Santana laughed when the question was posed, but it was unclear what he thought was funny. Since 2004, Santana leads the majors with 70 wins, a 2.89 ERA and 983 strikeouts. It could be that the idea of taking a backseat to anyone, even Hall of Fame lock Martinez, sounded ridiculous to him.
"Well, I like our chances," the smiling Santana said. "Whatever it takes. We'll see how spring training goes. I'm willing to do whatever. A No. 1, a No. 5, whatever it takes."
Santana had yet to speak with Martinez, but he told Minaya this week that he knew he had arrived when the three-time Cy Young winner asked for his autograph earlier in his career. Randolph believes Santana will inject a "swagger" into his team, but Minaya is curious to see how his arrival affects Martinez, who is in his walk year and plans to pitch beyond this season.
"I think it's going to be great with Pedro," Minaya said. "They're considered best pitchers in the game and it's always going to be a competition among the one and two guys. Either they pick each other up or outdo each other. It goes both ways."
Martinez, who switched leagues three years ago, should be a mentor of sorts for Santana, who'll be 29 next month. Santana is more reserved than Martinez, but despite coming from the small-market Twins, he handled Wednesday's media frenzy without breaking a sweat. Wearing a white dress shirt with the monogram JS on the cuffs under his game jersey, he endured a blizzard of flashbulbs and breezed through interviews.
"Pressure is part of the game," Santana said. "And all this, what we're doing right now, is fine. You talk, but the reality is once you're out there, it's up to you. It's not what people say. It's what you're capable of doing when you're on the mound. I know exactly what it takes for me to do my job and I'm always willing to do whatever it takes."
Randolph, no doubt relieved by the trade for Santana, had trouble suppressing a grin for most of the afternoon. The manager recalled a dinner conversation he had with Martinez about Santana that basically matched his own impressions.
"What he was trying to convey to me is that this guy is as tough as it gets," Randolph said. "He'll cut your heart out."
That's what the Mets want Santana to do to the Phillies, who gutted them at the wire last year. Two weeks after Randolph tried to bait Jimmy Rollins into making another bold proclamation, the manager refused to anoint the Mets as the NL East favorite -- even with Santana.
"I really don't think so," Randolph said. "It makes our .chances obviously that much better and we feel better about knocking off the front-runner. But no, I still respect the fact that they beat us last year and that we just reinforced our chances to knock them off."
Copyright © 2008, Newsday, Inc.
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