March 28th, 2013, likely marked the end of an era for the Mets. With the announcement of Johan Santana having a possible tear in his anterior capsule in his left shoulder, the same injury he had at the end of the 2010 season which required him to miss the entire 2011 season.

Johan Santana came to New York with much fan-fare in a sign & trade deal that saw then top prospects Carlos Gomez, Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra, in exchange for Santana signing a 6 year $137.5 million contract, the richest for a pitcher in baseball history at the time. Out of these four players, only Gomez has shown any sort of consistant success in the majors. After throwing a perfect game last season, Humber's season took a drastic turn for the worse, and Mulvey, who pitched not even a full season in the majors (he last pitched for Arizona in 2010) before retiring as a Met in May of last year. But injuries marred what was supposed to be a reign of dominance by Santana.

His 2008 season Santana nearly won the NL Cy Young Award placing third in voting, and kept the Mets playoff hopes alive (at least for one more day) by pitching a spectacular three hit complete game shutout against the Marlins in Game 161. It was later revealed that Santana had pitched the game on a torn meniscus, thus making the performance all the more spectacular. 

Santana's 2009 season was a bit off compared to 2008. In 2009 Santana came out hot, in his first 10 starts he was 7-2, and had a 1.72 ERA, but in his final 15 starts he went 6-7 and had a 4.02 ERA to finish with a 13-9 record and 3.13 ERA in 166 innings pitched, shut down in late August to remove bone chips from his elbow.

The 2010 season does not stand out as memorable on the surface but it has proven to be vastly underrated. To drive home the point, outside of record, innings pitched, and strikeouts, Santana's season was better than his crosstown ace counterpart in CC Sabathia, who placed third in AL Cy Young voting that season. In 200 innings pitched, Santana had a 11-9 record, but a 2.98 ERA, a WHIP of 1.18, and 144 strikeouts. But once again, Santana's season was cut short due to injury, this time a torn anterior capsule in his left throwing shoulder. This injury kept him out for the entire 2011 season as well.

2012 marked a new beginning for Johan. Santana came back with a vengeance, posting a 2.75 ERA and along with eventual NL Cy Young winner, R.A. Dickey made a potent 1-2 punch. On June 1st, it finally happened. That night, Johan Santana threw not only his first career no-hitter, but also the first no-hitter in New York Mets history. His next start, Santana was rocked by the New York Yankees, going five innings and allowing six runs. But after that he seemed to settle down and begin getting his feet back under him, especially after throwing 8 shutout innings against the Dodgers. But his next start, Chicago Cubs outfielder stepped on Santana's ankle and it all went downhill from there failing to make it past the 5th inning while allowing six or more runs in each of his five starts after. 

Santana is a very polarizing figure for some Mets fans but he still remains one of the most popular and better pitchers in Mets franchise history. Was he worth the contract that he received? In short, no. But would I do that trade again? In a New York minute.