According to Jon Heyman, the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of at least seven teams that scouted Johan Santana as he threw a bullpen session today. The reports from the session say that Santana was in excellent shape and his change-up looked good, but his velocity was topping out at 81 MPH. Santana is currently building up strength after his second shoulder surgery and this was just the third time he threw in the bullpen.
Johan Santana was once the best pitcher in baseball and the lefty is two weeks shy of his 35th birthday, so he may still have something in the tank and provide value to some team that doesn’t expect him to be a top of the rotation starter. He last pitched in 2012 for the New York Mets, when he went 6-9, 4.85 in 21 starts. The two-time Cy Young winner has led the league in WHIP four times, ERA three times and strikeouts three times. He has not pitched a full season since 2010 however, when he made 29 starts and pitched 199 innings. He missed all of 2011 with his first shoulder surgery.
