RADIO
The Toronto Blue Jays agreed yesterday to a minor league deal with starting pitcher Johan Santana, and are taking a chance on the a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
Santana, who is 35 but will be 36 by the time the regular season starts, last pitched for the Mets in 2012. He is responsible for the only no-hitter in the Mets’ 52-year history, although Carlos Beltran, also a former Metropolitan, may have something to say about that.
In his last season with the Mets, Santana started 21 games and went 6-9 while posting a mediocre 4.85 ERA with a pedestrian WHIP of 1.33. Santana has undergone two major shoulder surgeries since 2011, and a comeback attempt in the Orioles’ minor league system fell short last season because of a torn achilles tendon.
Toronto is hoping to squeeze any production possible out of the native Venezuelan, who joins former teammates Jose Reyes and R.A. Dickey in camp this spring.
The most recent appearance Santana made, since his last MLB pitch almost three years ago, was this January in the Venezuelan winter league where he retired six batters in a row, in vintage Santana fashion.
