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Mets To Place Kodai Senga On IL With Hamstring Strain

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5:40pm: Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that reliever Max Kranick will be recalled to take Senga’s roster spot.

3:05pm: Mets right-hander Kodai Senga has a strained hamstring and will go on the 15-day injured list. Manager Carlos Mendoza informed reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, after today’s game. Further details about the severity of the injury and his absence won’t be known until he undergoes an MRI tomorrow. It’s also not yet clear what other moves will be made in conjunction with this IL placement.

Senga’s injury was obvious during today’s game, with video relayed by SNY. He started the contest and was pitching a gem, with no runs allowed as he pitched into the sixth inning. During that sixth frame, CJ Abrams hit a grounder between second and first, which was corralled by first baseman Pete Alonso. Senga ran to cover first and leaped to receive the throw from Alonso. While he made the catch and recorded the out, he then collapsed on the ground in obvious pain, clutching at his right leg. Senga told Alonso he felt a pull in his leg before leaping for the ball, per DiComo.

Regardless of whether the leap had anything to do with it, the larger point is that it’s a blow for the Mets. Senga has been a dominant pitcher throughout his entire big league career, with a 2.59 earned run average in 239 2/3 innings. However, injuries have played a role in the volume of his contributions. Last year, a shoulder strain and a calf strain limited him to just one regular season start last year. He did get healthy enough to pitch in the postseason, adding another five innings there.

He’s been healthy to this point in 2025, having made 13 starts with a 1.47 ERA. Now, however, he’s facing another injury absence. As mentioned, the full details of the strain and the timeline won’t be known until tomorrow.

The injury is the latest example of how anything resembling a pitching surplus is a temporary condition in the modern game. Just a few minutes before Senga collapsed on the field, Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that the Mets were getting calls on righty Paul Blackburn due to their seeming abundance of starting pitching options.

If the Mets had any interest in trading from their rotation, that desire has presumably gone done in the wake of this injury. Without Senga, the rotation now consists of Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning. Blackburn has been in the mix since coming off the IL, having made one start and one long relief appearance. Presumably, Blackburn can slide into a more proper rotation role while Senga is on the shelf.

That won’t fully settle things, as both Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea are both currently on rehab assignments and could be back in the next week or two. That will give the Mets seven starters for five rotation spots. If Senga’s injury is mild and he makes a quick return, they have eight guys. Just as Senga’s injury popped up out of nowhere, other guys could drop off in the coming weeks, but it’s also possible some the club has to make some tough decisions.

Of those eight guys, Senga, Peterson and Megill are the only ones who can be optioned to the minors. Senga is too good to send down to the farm. That’s likely true of Peterson as well, who has a 2.49 ERA this year. Megill is perhaps a bit more likely to be squeezed out but even his 3.76 ERA is quite good.

Time will tell how all the pieces fit. For now, the Mets will have to proceed without their ace. They have a number of quality options to soften the blow but it’s still a notable development for the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Mets Receiving Trade Interest In Paul Blackburn

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With several teams around the league straining to find rotation help, the Mets have been receiving early interest in righty Paul Blackburn, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. There’s no indication a trade is close, but there’s good reason to think the Mets might be amenable to an earlier-than-usual trade involving the veteran righty.

The Mets are currently six-deep in starters, with Blackburn the ostensible odd man out. Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill have all pitched well this season. All five have started at least a dozen games, and none has an ERA higher than Megill’s 3.76. Blacknburn’s most recent outing came in long relief, although Sherman notes that he could get a spot start or two with an upcoming run of 13 games in 13 days.

That said, both Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea are out on minor league rehab stints. The former has made four starts and built up to 76 pitches, while the latter tossed 46 pitches over 2 2/3 innings in his second rehab start two days ago. As such, Montas is the closer of the pair to returning and could even be ready to go next week. He’s slated to make his fifth rehab appearance tomorrow, but there’s still enough time left on his rehab clock that he could make two more starts if the team sees fit. Manaea’s rehab window extends into early July, as he only began his assignment on June 6.

One way or another, within the next two to three weeks, the Mets could find themselves with as many as seven or eight healthy rotation options. All are largely established as big league starting pitchers as well, so it’s not as though they have a young, optional arm to send back to Syracuse for a bit.

Peterson can technically still be optioned, but only for another five days. He’s on the cusp of reaching five years of MLB service time, at which point he’d have to consent to being sent down. It’s a moot point, though, given how well he’s pitching. Megill also has an option, but he’s bounced back from a run of shaky starts in early-to-mid May by rattling off 21 1/3 innings with a 3.80 ERA and 28-to-9 K/BB ratio. His season-long numbers are strong, and a depth-focused Mets front office, helmed by president David Stearns, surely doesn’t want to burn Megill’s final option year at a time when he’s pitching well.

One potential wrinkle that could impact the Mets’ rotation depth unfolded as I was writing that last paragraph: Senga exited today’s game against the Nationals with an injury. The right-hander covered first base on a grounder to the right side of the infield, made a leaping catch to corral the throw, and grabbed at his leg after coming down on the bag (video link via SNY). Senga eventually walked off the field under his own power, but he was down on the field for a couple minutes with the Mets’ training staff.

A lot will hinge on whether Senga is forced to skip a start or head to the injured list. There’s no way to know for the time being. He’s surely just in the very initial stages of evaluation. That situation will be worth watching with a close eye, but so long as he avoids a lengthy trip to the IL, that same scenario of six to eight generally established big league starters vying for five rotation spots will loom as a possibility. The Mets could move to a six-man rotation, of course, though Sherman notes that they prefer not to play one reliever short, as they’d be required to do by rolling out a permanent six-man staff.

If the Mets do end up giving serious thought to trading Blackburn, there’ll be no shortage of interested teams. He’s hardly a front-of-the-rotation piece, but the 31-year-old righty carries a 4.39 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate over his past 299 1/3 major league innings. He’s pitched in 58 games over that stretch, with all but two of them coming out of the rotation.

Blackburn is in his final season of club control. He’s being paid $4.05MM this year, with about $2.35MM of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, so the Mets probably won’t get a particularly large return for him, but they could get a nominal prospect or perhaps a lower-end reliever with more team control. On top of that, trading Blackburn would actually save the Mets around $4.94MM, given that they’re deep in the top bracket of luxury tax penalization and thus subject to a 110% tax on every dollar over the top threshold.

MLBTR Podcast: White Sox Ownership, Roman Anthony, And The Diamondbacks’ Rotation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Do the Mariners need a left-hander in the rotation? (40:45)
  • What will the Braves do with the rest of the season and would they trade Chris Sale? (45:30)
  • With the Mets seemingly having too many young infielders, who stays and who goes? (53:35)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, Imagn Images

Mets Sign Travis Jankowski To Minor League Deal

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The Mets signed veteran outfielder — and former Met — Travis Jankowski to a minor league deal, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. The Excel Sports client will head to Triple-A Syracuse for the time being.

Jankowski was placed on waivers by the Rays earlier this month. He went unclaimed and elected free agency, as is his right as a player with more than more than three years of service (more than eight, in Jankowski’s case). His time with Tampa Bay, during which he batted .244/.286/.289 in 49 plate appearances, gives him at least some level of big league action in 11 consecutive seasons.

Though he crossed eight years of MLB service during that Rays stint, Jankowski has never been a regular in the majors. He played a career-high 131 games with the 2016 Padres but did so in a limited, part-time role (383 plate appearances). He’s never topped the 387 plate appearances he logged with the 2018 Padres and has a total of 805 plate appearances over the past seven MLB seasons.

Jankowski is a career .236/.318/.305 hitter. He has negligible power and a league-average strikeout rate but draws plenty of walks, runs well and can play solid defense at all three outfield positions. He’s a nice fourth or fifth outfielder who’ll head to Triple-A and see if an opportunity opens up with the Mets’ big league squad, where Brandon Nimmo, Tyrone Taylor and Juan Soto are currently the main outfield options.

Both Jared Young and Starling Marte can technically play in the outfield, but they have four combined appearances on the grass this season. Outfielders Jose Siri and Jesse Winker are currently on the injured list (although the latter has primarily been a designated hitter). Jeff McNeil is effectively the Mets’ fourth outfielder at the moment. He’s logged 96 innings in the outfield, including 49 in center.

Jankowski was with the Mets back in 2022 but went just 9-for-44, with all nine of those hits being singles. That came out to a .167/.286/.167 batting line, but he could find himself with the opportunity to make a more lasting impression this time around, should the Mets incur an outfield injury or opt to move McNeil back to second base on a full-time basis.

Jed Hoyer Discusses 2021 Trade For Pete Crow-Armstrong

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Hoyer did go into a little more detail about what might now be the most impactful trade of his five-year run as PBO — the July 2021 deadline deal that brought Pete Crow-Armstrong to the then-rebuilding Cubs from the Mets for Javier Baez, Trevor Williams, and some cash considerations.  New York took Crow-Armstrong 19th overall in the 2020 draft so it wasn’t as if PCA was an unknown quantity, yet a shoulder surgery limited the outfielder to only six games in his first pro season.

The Mets weren’t willing to discuss moving more highly-touted prospects at the time, as Hoyer said such players as Francisco Alvarez, Matt Allan, and Brett Baty were “off the table” in trade talks.  Mark Vientos “was a guy that was kind of discussed a little bit but it was clear they didn’t want to part with him,” Hoyer noted, so discussions turned towards elsewhere on New York’s minor league depth chart.

Crow-Armstrong “was sort of out of sight, out of mind, I believe,” Hoyer said.  “Looking back, I think his injury didn’t allow him to perform, and therefore I think he became a guy [the Mets] were willing to trade in that deal.  So I think it was good fortune for us that they did take some really good players off the table, and most of those guys are helping the Mets right now, but Pete’s injury allowed that to happen and it worked out really well for us.”

Mets Select Justin Garza

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The Mets announced that they have selected right-hander Justin Garza to their major league roster. Left-hander Brandon Waddell was optioned in a corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had two vacancies, so their count climbs from 38 to 39.

Garza, 31, started the season on a minor league contract with the Giants. This past weekend, the Mets acquired him, sending some cash considerations to San Francisco in return. He has tossed 17 2/3 innings over 19 Triple-A appearances this year. His 6.11 earned run average in that time is obviously not great but there are other metrics that the Mets are presumably more interested in.

The righty has been averaging over 96 miles per hour on his fastballs this year. When he was last in the majors, he was in the 93-95 mph range. His 26% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate this year are both strong numbers. However, he has allowed a .340 batting average on balls in play. His 68.6% strand rate is a bit low. He has also allowed four home runs, a rate of 22.2% per fly ball. That work has come in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, so perhaps the Mets are hoping that Garza’s skills will play better in a different setting. Citi Field is generally pitcher-friendly but can be close to neutral when it comes to home runs.

Garza does have some major league experience, with a 5.74 ERA, 21% strikeout rate and 13.7% walk rate in 47 innings. That poor control has also been a feature of his minor league work. From 2021 to 2023, he logged 102 2/3 innings on the farm with 3.94 ERA and 27.4% strikeout rate but a 12.4% walk rate. Last year, he only walked 8% of Triple-A batters he faced and has stayed in that range in 2025.

Though his major league track record isn’t great, adding velocity while improving control is an intriguing step forward, so the Mets will give him a fresh chance. He has a couple of option years remaining, which surely adds to the appeal, as he can be sent to Syracuse and back fairly freely if he holds down a 40-man roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

Mets Sign Julian Merryweather To Minor League Deal

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The Mets signed right-hander Julian Merryweather to a minor league deal this evening, as relayed by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

Merryweather, 33, was a fifth-round pick by Cleveland back in 2014. Traded to Toronto as part of the Josh Donaldson deal, he made his big league debut with the Blue Jays during the shortened 2020 season. The right-hander showed some promise with a 4.15 ERA and 2.27 FIP across 13 innings in that rookie season, but he never quite lived up to it in future seasons after he was derailed by elbow and oblique issues among other injuries over the years. He put together a 5.64 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 47 appearances with the Blue Jays overall before being designated for assignment in January of 2023.

The right-hander was promptly plucked off waivers by the Cubs, and enjoyed the best season of his career that year. In 72 innings of work as a high leverage arm for Chicago, Merryweather posted a 3.38 ERA with a 3.52 FIP and struck out a fantastic 32.3% of his opponents. Those huge strikeout numbers were enough to overcome a career-high 11.9% walk rate, and Merryweather entered the 2024 season firmly in the Cubs’ late inning mix alongside closer Adbert Alzolay and offseason addition Hector Neris. Unfortunately, Merryweather was part of a bullpen implosion early in the season that proved fatal to Chicago’s chances last season. He spent most of the season sidelined by a knee injury that ultimately required surgery, and even when he was healthy enough to pitch he struggled to a 6.60 ERA with a strikeout rate that had plummeted to just 18.9%.

It was easy enough to blame Merryweather’s struggles in 2024 on his injuries, which may have thrown him off mechanically and contributed to his fastball velocity losing two ticks relative to the prior season. To whatever extent that may have been the case, however, a healthy offseason clearly wasn’t all it took to fix Merryweather’s issues. His velocity remained down this year, and 2025 proved to be more of the same as he pitched to a subpar 5.79 ERA while striking out a career-low 17.0% of his opponents and walking a career-high 12.5%. The right-hander’s 21 outings for Chicago this year were clearly too much for the club to stomach, as he was designated for assignment as the team turned to more reliable late-inning options like Brad Keller, Drew Pomeranz, and Daniel Palencia who had emerged in recent weeks.

Merryweather eventually went unclaimed on waivers, and the Cubs had the option to outright him to the minors as a non-roster depth option for the remainder of the year as he was a few days shy of the ability to reject the assignment while retaining his full salary. Chicago chose to grant the righty his release, however, and he returned to free agency late last month. Now, he’s on to New York to join a Mets club that is tied with Chicago for the best record in the National League. The Mets will try to recapture what made Merryweather so effective with the Cubs in 2023 while he gets to work at Triple-A Syracuse as a potential depth piece alongside arms like Justin Garza and Colin Poche.

Mets Acquire Justin Garza From Giants

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The Mets have swung a deal with the Giants to acquire right-hander Justin Garza in exchange for cash considerations, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. Garza had been on a minor league deal with San Francisco, so no corresponding move will be necessary for the Mets until and unless he’s selected to the 40-man roster.

Garza, 31, has pitched in the majors for parts of two MLB seasons. Selected by Cleveland in the eighth-round of the 2015 draft, he made his big league debut for them in 2021. He ultimately ended up pitching 28 2/3 innings of work for the club in total with roughly league average results. In those 21 appearances, he posted a 4.71 ERA (92 ERA+) and struck out 22.7% of his opponents, but walked 14.1% and allowed more than his fair share of home runs. He was much more effective than that at Triple-A, where he posted a 1.57 ERA in 22 2/3 frames, but even that effectiveness slipped away during a 2022 season where he did not make it to the majors and posted only middling results in the minors.

He split the 2023 season between the Angels and Red Sox organizations and made it back to the big leagues in Boston, but struggled badly in that 17-game stint with a 7.36 ERA. His walk rate was still an elevated 13.7%, but his strikeout rate actually dropped to a well below-average 18.7% while his issues with the long ball persisted. His results at Triple-A were once again lackluster as well, and given his disastrous results his last time in the majors it’s not exactly shocking that he has yet to get another major league opportunity since. While he posted good numbers for the Giants at Triple-A last year, that’s not been the case at all this season with a 6.11 ERA and 5.50 FIP in 17 2/3 at the highest level of the minors this year.

Now, he’s set to join a new organization in hopes that a change of scenery (and a move out of the Pacific Coast League) can help him get back on track. Garza’s improved his command during his time in the Giants organization over the past two years, getting to the point where he struck out 26.0% of opponents while walking 7.8% this year. If he can carry those improved numbers over to the Mets organization, perhaps he could be a viable option for New York at the major league level even in spite of his proclivity towards giving up hard contact. The Mets have gotten generally excellent results from their bullpen this year, but as they found out when injuries sidelined Danny Young and A.J. Minter earlier this year an injury or two can leave even the strongest bullpens scrambling for depth. The addition of Garza should help protect against that somewhat, as he’ll join other non-roster depth pieces like Colin Poche and Oliver Ortega.

Francisco Lindor Dealing With Fractured Toe, Expects To Avoid Injured List

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Francisco Lindor sat out yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Dodgers. The star shortstop is day-to-day after fracturing his right pinky toe when he was hit by an 89 MPH slider from Tony Gonsolin in the first inning on Wednesday. Lindor finished that game and told reporters that he unsuccessfully lobbied manager Carlos Mendoza to remain in the lineup last night (link via Will Sammon of The Athletic).

Lindor said that he does not expect to go on the injured list. “I think it’s going to be a nagging thing. It’s a bone; it’s a broken bone. I think it takes six weeks for a bone to be fully healed,” he added. Mendoza said the Mets gave no consideration to using Lindor off the bench last night. Luisangel Acuña drew into the lineup at shortstop as the #9 hitter, while Brandon Nimmo moved up to Lindor’s customary spot atop the batting order.

It was just the second time all season that Lindor was out of the lineup. He is annually one of the most durable players in the sport. Lindor has only been on the IL one time since being traded to New York — a five-week absence in 2021 due to an oblique strain. He appeared in all but three of the team’s games between 2022-23. The Mets scaled that back slightly last season, though he still made 152 appearances and came close to 700 plate appearances. Only Matt Olson, Marcus Semien, Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have played in more games since the start of 2022.

Lindor has led off every game he’s started this season. Starling Marte and Nimmo have hit atop the order in the other two contests. Nimmo would probably get the bulk of the time there if Lindor needs a few more days off. It’s possible that the Mets will build in a few more staggered off days for last year’s MVP runner-up over the next month than they otherwise would in order to help manage the discomfort. Acuña would be the top choice to fill in defensively, with Ronny Mauricio as an alternative if they want a higher offensive ceiling than Acuña brings to the table.

In a more encouraging health development, Sean Manaea is set for his first game action of the season. The veteran lefty will begin a rehab assignment at High-A Brooklyn tonight, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Manaea will throw around 35 pitches in his first outing, Mendoza said on Wednesday. Manaea strained his right oblique early in camp.

Lingering soreness required an April platelet-rich plasma injection. He’ll need multiple rehab starts and is likely looking at a return to MLB action around the end of this month. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last up to 30 days. Manaea is coming off a 3.47 ERA across 181 2/3 innings. He re-signed on a three-year deal with a $75MM guarantee (with over $23MM deferred) in December.

Mets Recall Ronny Mauricio

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4:45pm: As expected, Vientos has been placed on the 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain, per Will Sammon of The Athletic.

8:45am: The Mets are calling infielder Ronny Mauricio back up to the majors for what’ll be his first MLB action since 2023, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after suffering an ACL tear during winter ball in the 2023-24 offseason and began the 2025 season on the injured list as he finished up his rehab from the resulting knee surgery.

Mauricio’s return to the big leagues dovetails with a potential injury for third baseman/designated hitter Mark Vientos, who left last night’s game with discomfort in his hamstring after running out a grounder in the 10th inning. Skipper Carlos Mendoza noted after the game that it “didn’t look good” for Vientos following that exit and added that the slugger went straight to have imaging performed. The results of that MRI haven’t yet been shared publicly, but Mauricio traveling to Los Angeles to meet the Mets certainly seems to suggest an IL stint for Vientos could be forthcoming.

Still just 24 years old, Mauricio has ranked among the Mets’ top prospects for upwards of six years now. Originally signed out of his native Dominican Republic eight years ago, he’s had a relatively slow climb to the majors — granted, in large part due to that injury — but now looks poised for an opportunity of some note. He received a 26-game cup of coffee late in the 2023 season and batted .248/.296/.347 in his first 108 MLB plate appearances. Were it not for last year’s knee injury, Mauricio very likely would’ve gotten a larger opportunity in 2024.

The question of how to juggle playing time and opportunities for the promising young infield group of Mauricio, Vientos, Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña has loomed over the Mets for some time, but that quartet has never been healthy enough simultaneously to force the issue. Early this season, Baty increasingly looked to be the odd man out, but he shook off a slow start and has been hitting well enough to cut into Vientos’ time at third base. After collecting only three hits in his first 10 games of the season, Baty has tallied 101 plate appearances with a hearty .280/.330/.548 slash (146 wRC+). He’s homered six times and added three doubles, two triples and a pair of stolen bases along the way.

As Baty’s bat heated up, both Vientos and Acuña cooled. Acuña’s month of May was even rougher than Baty’s first week-plus; he hit .204/.252/.222 last month and is hitless in three plate appearances since the calendar turned to June. Vientos, meanwhile, carried above-average production at the plate into mid-May, but he’s batted just .191/.250/.298 in his past 52 turns at the dish. All the while as that balance of playing time shifted in the majors, Mauricio was reacclimating to the rigors of pro ball and readying for another opportunity — one that now looks to have presented itself.

Mauricio posted an awful .125/.176/.188 line with a 35.3% strikeout rate in his first 10 games back from the injured list, which were split between Class-A and Double-A. With his rehab complete, the Mets unsurprisingly optioned him to Triple-A rather than call him up after that performance in the lower minors. A return to Triple-A Syracuse coincided with a return to form at the plate. Mauricio has played in nine Triple-A games and collected multiple hits in seven of them. He’s ripped three homers and a double, all while drawing the same number of walks as strikeouts (five) in 39 plate appearances.

The Mets would probably have preferred to see Mauricio draw out this hot streak a bit longer — both given the extent of his initial struggles in the low minors and because he’s yet to play on three consecutive days at any point in his return to action. He’s only played on consecutive days six times since his return to the field on April 27. The Vientos injury likely forced the Mets’ hand, however. Mauricio may end up in a limited role early on, sharing time at third base with Baty, at second base with Acuña and Jeff McNeil, and at DH with Starling Marte.

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