Is literally everything an issue of semantics for you? No, don’t bother to answer that.

“There’s not a timeframe here on when I’m gonna come back … we’ll see how as the ST goes and how all the rehab goes how well I’ll react to it … If I don’t pitch this year, I don’t think it will be a setback …. They told me it’s going to take a lot of time … It’s going to take a long time, so I am aware of that … but at the same time they told me that if everything was successful, if everything goes right, if the rehab goes right then I shouldn’t have any problem coming back this year… my mindset is to come back this year and to help this team.”

I feel the original post unfairly set up Santana to be called “a liar” down the road if he didn’t come back this year. He has never discounted that possibility.

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/d0/dW/dV/dD/dX/WVDX_3.MP3?authtok=5561403219116481641_A3NZXSCVF4a7t1x1jLLgbRUh6g

But that is precisely what Popper/Klapisch did. They said it was imminent. Not in May or July or August. But right now. It is the setback (and scrapping of the rehab program) that Santana is calling a lie.

No one has ever ruled out the possibility in any way that Johan may not be back in a real game this year.

As for the Bergen Record, they claim outright that there is an issue right now with his rehab schedule and that it may be scrapped this week. If in fact Santana continues to rehab through March, then the Bergen Record will have been proven wrong … no matter what happens in April, May or much later down the road.

Alderson on Santana: 3 month flat ground. Early May on mound. Back late June or July.—
Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) February 17, 2011

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Santana says they’re still on schedule, which is cool. The Bergan Record reports that some Mets employee says otherwise. Which is also cool. We don’t know.

Warthen/Alderson/Santana have been saying this essentially since last fall when he was first operated on.

The rehab schedule is just a plan. And all they are saying now is that the plan is going as originally set out so far and that there are no major setbacks as indicated by the original Popper/Klapisch story. The idea that there is a setback is what they are calling a lie.

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/baseball/mets/031411_Johan_Santana_insists_his_rehab_is_still_on_schedule.html

Santana himself has said words to the effect that he can’t say for sure — with guarantees — when he will be back and that his health and future are the most important things (so he won’t rush back). And Alderson/Warthen have not said anything different either.

There is a schedule, but no one knows for sure if it will go according to plan, and no one is claiming it will. They are only claiming that so far, there are no setbacks.

Craig, I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but that’s not accurate. Santana and Warthen are taking issue with the Bergen Record’s claims that his rehab schedule is going badly and that it might be derailed this week.

Johan Santana is NOT claiming he will pitch in a major league game this year. Just that there are no setbacks in the rehab schedule so far. That’s quite a different matter.