Mets GM: Santana experiences soreness

PITTSBURGH, June 13 (UPI) -- New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana has had soreness in his surgically repaired left shoulder, General Manager Sandy Alderson said Monday.

Alderson told reporters in Pittsburgh the left-handed ace, who is recovering from surgery last September to repair a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder, experienced soreness in the joint as he accelerated his pitching rehab schedule in an effort to play this season.

"He threw on the third of June with some greater intensity than he had before [and] he experienced some soreness," Alderson told the New York Daily News.

The team has pulled Santana from throwing off a mound and instead has him doing long-tossing, which he has performed without pain, the GM said.

Hopes the former Cy Young Award winner could return to the Mets by the All-Star Game break are now highly unlikely, with an August return now seen as a possibility, the Daily News reported.

"I wouldn't call it a setback," Alderson said. "I would say it is one of those things that can occur, and we'll see how he responds the first time out."