QUEENS, NY — Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes could be utilized down the stretch of the regular season and potentially in the postseason as relievers, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns hinted on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t take any of that off the table right now,” Stearns said. “I think we are, with 12 games left in our season, going to do what we need to do to win as many games as possible. And if that means asking pitchers to take on slightly different roles for various turns through our rotation, that’s what we’re going to do.”
With just over a week to go in the regular season, the Mets’ rotation is still in flux, and their playoff hopes are still very much uncertain. They are relying on their top three prospects, Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong, to stabilize the staff in the home stretch, while southpaws David Peterson and Sean Manaea are with Holmes as veteran arms who are trying to find consistency amidst sizable second-half struggles.
Entering his start on Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres, where he will be piggybacked by Manaea, Holmes had a 4.99 ERA across his last 12 outings — perhaps a byproduct of navigating a previously unknown workload, as this is his first season as a starter after seven years as a reliever.
The former New York Yankees’ closer, who is less than a year removed from high-leverage innings in the World Series, becomes a logical right-handed option to bolster the bullpen while the likes of Ryan Helsley, Reed Garrett, and Ryne Stanek struggle.
“It’s still a transition for him,” Stearns said of Holmes. “He has the experience from the past, but it’s still a transition for him to [go back to being a reliever]. So I think it’s as much of what the matchups say, who we’re facing, how the rest of the pitching staff as a group is performing, and then holistically, trying to make the best decisions we possibly can.”
Senga remains a wild card, of sorts, considering he is currently trying to figure it all out in Triple-A after a nightmare stretch of eight starts that saw him post a 6.56 ERA. He is scheduled to make his second start with Syracuse later this week, but his first minor-league outing suggested that he is in the process of getting right. On Friday, he went six innings, allowing one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and zero walks.
Should he repeat that, the Mets have a legitimate conversation on their hands about reintroducing him to the major-league roster — though a working ghost forkball in a high-leverage situation is an intriguing option to add toward the backend of the bullpen devoid of consistent outs from right-handers right now.
“Results always matter,” Stearns said. “Results are a part of it, and it’s where is the stuff? Has the stuff ticked up to the point where we feel comfortable that it’s going to get major league hitters out?”
