Starting pitcher Kodai Senga has alerted the New York Mets that he wants to stay with the club, but it does not appear that feeling is mutual with president of baseball operations David Stearns.
Will Sammon of The Athletic first reported on the 32-year-old’s desire to stay in Queens, though the Mets have been shopping him on the trade market throughout the first month of Major League Baseball’s offseason.
Senga’s stock has taken a considerable hit after a second-straight season that had been derailed by injury. Once firmly in the conversation for the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 2023, when he made the jump to North America from Japan, he appeared in just five regular-season innings in 2024.
Last year, after posting a 1.47 ERA in his first 13 starts of the season, Senga suffered a hamstring injury while trying to reel in an errant throw from Pete Alonso while running to cover first base. He was not the same pitcher upon his return, posting a 5.90 ERA in his final nine outings of the season.
His mechanics were so out of whack that he accepted a demotion to Triple-A late in the season in hopes of figuring it out in time for potential postseason contributions, but it never came.
Following the end of the season, Stearns made it clear that he can’t rely on Senga moving forward.
“Kodai Senga has had two inconsistent and challenging years in a row,” Stearns said on Sept. 30. “We know it’s in there, we know there’s potential. We’re going to do everything we can to help get it out of him. But could we put him in ink as making 30 starts next year? That would be foolish.”
The Mets’ starting rotation needs significant reinforcements, with Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson as the only viable options in 2026. Senga’s upside is still very much apparent, and he has proven that he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball when healthy.
But the Mets need something far more dependable, and trading the righty while he still has value this winter could help address that.
