Johan Santana plans to pitch in 2015

Johan Santana plans to pitch in 2015 and hopes to sign with a team before MLB Spring Training opens next month.

This is the kind of comeback that is easy to cheer for, yet you fear that it is going to make you cringe. Veteran starting pitcher Johan Santana is attempting a comeback after a torn Achilles ended his 2014 campaign.

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The good news is the fact that Santana is going through the process of building a case for himself. If he does sign with another team before 2015, that deal should at least be based on some substance as Santana tries to pitch himself back into form in Venezuelan winter ball.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports that Santana plans to pitch in 2015, and that he expects to sign with a team before Spring Training:

"“…Santana reportedly threw his fastball between 86 and 89 mph in a simulated game this week, and he is scheduled to make his Venezuelan winter ball debut Tuesday for Magallanes against the Tigres de Aragua. His agent, Peter Greenberg of the Legacy Agency, said Santana expects to sign with a team before spring training.”"

One cannot help but admire Santana’s ambition and confidence in himself, but given the uncertainty surrounding his situation, he might be forced to exercise more patience over a longer period of time before he finds himself a new team.

It seems impossible to believe that Santana last pitched in the big leagues in 2012. That was an up and down campaign for the lefty, one which contained a thrilling no-hitter but then a precipitous decline over the second half of the season. Santana finished 2012 with a 4.85 ERA. Prior to that season, he had missed the entire 2011 season due to injuries.

For a pitcher who was so dominant in his prime for the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets, Santana has expressed frustration about losing these seasons at the end of his career because he cannot stay healthy. That sounds like a major motivating factor, at least according to his agent.

“Johan wants to go out on his own terms,” Greenberg said, via ESPN.com. “He doesn’t want to go out because an injury put him out…It’s not about the money or anything like that. He’s said he wants to draw his own ending. He wants to go out on his own terms.”

When it’s put that way, it’s easy to cheer for Johan Santana to catch on with a team for the 2015 season. Teams are always looking for starting pitching, especially once Spring Training gets going and they start to assess their depth in that area into the first months of the regular season. That might be the best time for Santana to attract interest, such as he did last year with the Baltimore Orioles before getting hurt.

The 33-year-old Santana is 139-78 in his career with a 3.20 ERA and 1,988 strikeouts.

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