I May Be Wrong, But… Johan, Murph, Injuries

·         TC is smoking some real good shit saying that Johan Santana will be “ready on opening day”. Ready for what, the whirlpool? Look, I know the manager has to say good things at this point, but, come on. I will say this. He will start the first spring training game, probably the game against each other. All I hope is that, by opening day, he’s either 100% or 0%. It won’t bother me if it’s over for him because my mindset remains the 2014 team. Not having Johan in 2012 means other pitchers get a chance (I’m still in love with Chris Young).

·         It does look like Daniel Murphy has fully healed. He’s even working out without his brace. It will be interesting to see what happens if both Murphy and Reese Havens stay healthy and hit well at their respective level. These two guys may have the best bats in the system. Problems like this make any possible David Wright trade a lot easier to swallow. I still project a 2014 minimal salary infield of Ike Davis, Havens, Ruben Tejada, and Murphy, which could be a lot worse in this league.

·         There will be injuries, folks. We do this every year at this point in ST. We project the starting lineups for Queens, Buffalo, and Binghamton and then all hell breaks out. Remember last year?  The opening day Bisons lineup was killer. Then, down goes Zack Lutz, Fernando Martinez, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and up goes (promoted) Lucas Duda, Nick Evans, and Ruben Tejada. 

Here’s your projected starting lineup and the replacement players, in order, for 2012: 

          1B      Ike Davis              Justin Turner            Daniel Murphy

          2B      Daniel Murphy       Justin Turner        Josh Satin  

          SS     Ruben Tejada         Ronny Cedeno         Jordany Valdespin

          3B      David Wright        Daniel Murphy       Zach Lutz

          C        Josh Thole            Mike Nickeas        Vinnie Rottino

          LF      Jason Bay              Mike Baxter          Kirk Nieuwenhuis

          CF      Andres Torres       Scott Hairston      Matt den Dekker

          RF      Lucas Duda            Scott Hairston      Vinnie Rottino