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Mets Notes: Senga, Taylor, Marte

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The Mets’ rotation has gotten a huge helping hand from rookies Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong over the past few weeks, which has helped paper over a series of underwhelming performances from the veterans who were expected to hold down key roles. Frankie Montas pitched in only nine games and recorded a 6.28 ERA before going down with a UCL injury that will require surgery. Sean Manaea’s three-year, $75MM deal began with a lengthy IL stint for an oblique strain, and he’s now pitched in 10 games with a 5.60 ERA.

On the surface, it may seem odd to lump Kodai Senga and his excellent 3.02 ERA in with those other struggling veterans, but Senga has floundered through his past eight starts. The 32-year-old righty has totaled just 35 2/3 innings in that time while being tagged for a 6.56 earned run average. He’s walked 13% of his opponents in that stretch and surrendered a woeful 2.02 homers per nine innings pitched.

Senga’s struggles have been significant enough that the Mets have at least considered the possibility of sending him to the minors, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports. That’s not as straightforward of a decision as it would be with most pitchers; Senga’s five-year, $75MM contract stipulates that he cannot be optioned to the minor leagues without his consent. Sammon notes that Senga said Tuesday that he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to turn things around.

Still, it’d be a surprising development, given not only Senga’s prior runner-up finish in 2023 Rookie of the Year voting but also his general excellence to begin the season. Senga started 13 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list on June 13. In those 13 games, he pitched 73 2/3 innings (5 2/3 innings per start) and recorded an immaculate 1.47 ERA. His rate stats didn’t support that level of dominance (23.9 K%, 10.6 BB%), but metrics like FIP (3.24) and SIERA (4.27) didn’t think he was due for the type of regression he’s since experienced.

Perhaps that hamstring strain led him to develop some bad mechanical habits, or perhaps he’s still feeling some discomfort. It’s also feasible that there could simply be some fatigue setting in after Senga missed nearly all of the 2024 season due to shoulder and calf injuries. Whatever the cause, this is the most sustained stretch of struggles that Senga has encountered since making the move from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. With the Mets overwhelmingly likely to reach the postseason, it’d make sense to take any measures necessary to get Senga back to form ahead of the playoffs.

Elsewhere on the roster, injuries continue to pile up. The Mets placed outfielder Tyrone Taylor on the 10-day IL due to a left hamstring strain yesterday, recalling Jared Young from Triple-A Syracuse in his place. The IL placement was backdated to Aug. 30. Manager Carlos Mendoza expressed optimism that Taylor wouldn’t require a long stint on the shelf but said the team felt it had little choice after Taylor was rested for three days but still unable to run close to full speed Monday (link via Steve Kornacki of MLB.com).

Taylor had struggled at the plate for most of the season but finally appeared to be turning a corner. He’d collected three multi-hit performances in his past seven games, going 10-for-21 with four doubles and three walks (.476/.542/.667). It’s a small sample, of course, and Taylor is still hitting just .218/.277/.315 overall, but getting his bat going in the season’s final month would’ve been a nice perk headed into postseason play. He’s provided outstanding defense throughout the year and also gone 11-for-13 on the basepaths.

With Taylor sidelined, it’s possible that Starling Marte could see some occasional reps in the outfield. He’s been a designated hitter 65 times this season, compared to just eight games in the field, but the 36-year-old has had a resurgent season at the plate. After hitting just .258/.314/.357 from 2023-24, Marte has turned back the clock with a .280/.358/.432 batting line in 272 plate appearances. This year’s eight home runs are already more than he hit in either 2023 or 2024 (despite considerably more plate appearances those seasons). His 18.4% strikeout rate is his lowest since 2020.

While Marte’s downturn in performance from 2023-24 might’ve led to some speculation about whether he’d continue playing after his four-year contract concludes at the end of the 2025 season, this year’s performance shows he still has something left in the tank. There may not be a great fit with the Mets — Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto are in the outfield corners, and the Mets have several infield options to cycle through the DH spot — but Marte tells MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo that he plans to continue playing beyond the ’25 season.

Marte, 37 in October, isn’t going to find the same kind of lucrative multi-year deal in free agency that he did when he signed a four-year, $78MM contract with the Mets, but he’s hitting well enough that he should still command a major league contract. Marte’s once-plus speed has faded, and he’s now in just the 29th percentile of big leaguers for sprint speed, per Statcast, but his arm strength still grades out quite well. Another limited outfield role with frequent DH work would make sense for him moving forward, even if it’s with another team.

Jesse Winker Shut Down, Likely Out For Season

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The Mets don’t expect Jesse Winker to return this season, manager Carlos Mendoza tells reporters (including Mike Puma of The New York Post). Winker has been sidelined since the middle of July with a lower back injury. He began a rehab assignment last week but has been shut back down from baseball activity, suggesting he suffered some kind of setback.

Winker had a productive 2024 season, batting .253/.360/.405 between the Nationals and Mets. Most of that production came early in the season with Washington. New York nevertheless brought Winker back on a $7.5MM free agent deal. They expected him to take the majority of the designated hitter playing time against right-handed pitching.

Injuries cost him that opportunity. Winker suffered a significant oblique strain in early May. That kept him out of action until shortly before the All-Star Break. He returned for two games and three plate appearances before going back on the shelf. His rehab stint in Low-A last week lasted two games.

Winker’s season probably comes to a close with a .229/.309/.400 slash in 81 plate appearances. He’ll return to free agency this winter and might be limited to minor league offers. The Mets will continue giving Mark Vientos and Starling Marte the majority of the DH at-bats. They’ve each been very good in the second half. Winker probably wouldn’t have pushed them for a ton of playing time even if healthy, but he could’ve played a meaningful run as a left-handed bat off the bench.

Red Sox Acquire Ali Sánchez

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With active rosters expanding from 26 to 28 today, the Red Sox are calling up right-hander Zack Kelly and catcher Ali Sánchez, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. The latter had signed a minor league deal with the Mets just over a week ago but the Red Sox traded for him last night, per Healey. The Mets received cash in the deal, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. The Sox opened a 40-man spot for Sánchez by moving infielder Marcelo Mayer to the 60-day injured list, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.

At first blush, it might be a bit confusing that the Sox and Mets swung a trade after the deadline. However, as MLBTR explained last month, certain trades are still allowed. A player on a minor league contract which has not been selected to the majors can be traded. That’s true even if the player was in the majors earlier in the season via a different contract. Last year, for instance, Cavan Biggio played for the Dodgers. After being designated for assignment and released, he signed a minor league deal with the Giants. After the deadline, he was traded from the Giants to Atlanta.

The situation is basically the same with Sánchez, who has played for the Blue Jays and Red Sox in 2025. The Sox designated him for assignment a couple of weeks back. He cleared outright waivers, elected free agency and signed with the Mets. Since this Mets deal hadn’t been selected to the majors, he was eligible to be traded back to Boston. By being acquired last night, prior to September, he’s eligible to be on Boston’s postseason roster.

Sánchez will give the Sox a three-catcher setup for the final month of the season, joining Carlos Narváez and Connor Wong. Sánchez still has a fairly limited major league track record. He has appeared in four big league seasons but with just 47 total games played. In those contests, he has a .185/.222/.235 slash line.

However, he’s generally regarded as a strong fielder and his offensive numbers have been better in a larger sample of minor league playing time. From 2022 to the present, he has stepped to the plate 943 times at the Triple-A level with a .272/.348/.418 line. That translates to a 96 wRC+, which is 4% below league average but decent for a catcher, especially a backup catcher.

Wong is slashing just .189/.253/.231 on the season, so perhaps there’s a scenario where Sánchez plays himself into the #2 slot behind Narváez and cracks the postseason roster. For now, he’ll give the club a bit more cover for a potential injury while also giving the skipper a bit more freedom for in-game roster moves. Sánchez is out of options but has just over a year of service time and can therefore be retained beyond this season if he’s holding a roster spot at season’s end.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Mets Designate Jose Castillo For Assignment

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The Mets announced that left-hander Jose Castillo has been designated for assignment.  Right-hander Chris Devenski was called up from Triple-A Syracuse in the corresponding move.  The transaction brings Devenski’s fresh arm into the bullpen, as Castillo tossed 47 pitches over a two-inning relief outing in Friday’s 19-9 rout of the Marlins.

Castillo is out of minor league options, and thus this is the fourth time this season he has been DFA’d since has to first clear waivers before being sent to Triple-A.  The first designation came in May when Castillo was still a member of the Diamondbacks, and the Mets then brought the southpaw into the organization via trade.  In Castillo’s previous two DFAs with New York, he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Syracuse.  It stands to reason that the same will happen here, though Castillo has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if he wants to explore the open market.

Despite the roster churn, Castillo has pitched quite well during his time in Queens, posting a 2.35 ERA, 53.3% grounder rate, 25.7% strikeout rate, and 8.1% walk rate over 15 1/3 innings with the Mets.  This represents Castillo’s best stretch in the majors since his 2018 rookie season, when he broke into the Show with a 3.29 ERA over 38 1/3 relief innings with the Padres.

However, Castillo tossed just two MLB innings between the 2019-24 seasons, due to a variety of injuries that included a Tommy John surgery.  His bottom-line numbers for New York provide some proof that the 29-year-old can still be effective against big league hitters, even if the Mets see him as an expendable arm.

Mets Sticking With Six-Man Rotation

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The Mets are moving to a six-man rotation for the time being, manager Carlos Mendoza tells reporters (including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). That’ll keep Jonah Tong in the rotation after tonight’s debut. New York will operate with a seven-man bullpen for the next two games but will get an eighth reliever back when active rosters expand on Monday.

Tong worked five innings against the Marlins tonight. He gave up four runs, only one of which was earned after the Mets made a pair of errors in the fifth inning. Tong punched out six without issuing a walk while allowing six hits. Completing five innings was all he needed to do to pick up his first big league win. The Mets pounded Miami pitching for 19 runs in a blowout victory.

The Mets now have a pair of rookies in their starting staff. Nolan McLean, called up two weeks ago, has begun his big league career with a trio of fantastic starts. He fired eight scoreless innings against Philadelphia last time out and has allowed only two runs through his first 20 1/3 innings. David Peterson has been their best starter all year, while Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea are surely locked into rotation spots. It wouldn’t have made much sense to call Tong up just for a spot start.

Clay Holmes has a 4.38 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout rate in eight starts since the All-Star Break. He has only completed six innings once during that stretch. The Mets could’ve considered moving him to the bullpen, where he’ll probably end up in October if they hold onto a playoff spot. That’s not the plan for now, and Holmes is lined up to start in Detroit next Wednesday.

The Mets have a scheduled off day on Thursday. If they don’t make any adjustments to their six-man rotation, Tong’s second MLB start will come a week from now at Great American Ball Park. That’s shaping up to be a big series with the Reds representing the closest thing to a challenger in the Wild Card race. New York has pulled five games clear of Cincinnati, who have dropped four in a row at a very inopportune time.

The final month presents an evaluation opportunity for New York’s coaching staff and front office. They could go in a number of directions with a playoff rotation. Peterson is probably the favorite for a Game One start, but McLean and Tong each have a shot to convince the club that they’re worthy of a postseason start despite their inexperience.

Mets Outright Ty Adcock

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August 28: Adcock went unclaimed and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’ll remain in Syracuse. That opens the 40-man roster spot for Tong’s promotion tomorrow.

August 26: The Mets have placed right-hander Ty Adcock on waivers, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Mets haven’t announced the move but they do need to open a 40-man spot for the upcoming promotion of prospect Jonah Tong on Friday, so perhaps the two are related.

Adcock, 28, has a fairly limited big league track record. He has thrown a combined 23 innings over the three most recent seasons with a 5.48 earned run average. His 20.4% strikeout rate in that sample is a bit below par but he has only walked 4.3% of opponents.

His minor league résumé provides a larger batch of data to look at. He has shown some flashes down on the farm but hasn’t been having a great season. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 57 1/3 innings in the minors with a 4.24 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate. With Syracuse this year, he has logged 29 Triple-A innings with a 5.28 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate.

Adcock is in his final option season, so he’ll be out of options next year. That would make it harder for him to hold a roster spot through the offseason and into 2026, so he was presumably running out of time.

Despite his lack of results this year, it’s possible some club is attracted to the stuff. His fastball averages in the upper-90s and he also throws a cutter, splitter, sinker and slider. Though he’ll be out of options next year, he is still optionable for the remainder of this season, which could give him appeal to a club in need of some extra bullpen depth. He’ll be postseason eligible with another club if claimed before September 1st.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Frankie Montas To Undergo UCL Surgery

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Mets right-hander Frankie Montas has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and will require surgery, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It seems unclear exactly what kind of surgery Montas will require but Heyman says it will “very likely” be a full Tommy John, which would wipe out his entire 2026 season. Even a lesser surgery such as an internal brace procedure would put him on the shelf for most of next season.

The news doesn’t come out of nowhere. Montas was placed on the 15-day injured list a few days ago with a UCL injury. Manager Carlos Mendoza described it as “pretty significant” and said Montas would not be returning in 2025. The news of the surgery has more of an impact on 2026, which could go down as a lost season for Montas. A full Tommy John surgery generally requires 14-plus months of rehab. The internal brace alternative can sometimes allow a player to come back around a year later, though even that is a rare outcome.

Time will tell what 2026 has in store for Montas. Either way, his signing is officially a regrettable one for the Mets. Coming into 2025, they gave him a two-year, $34MM guarantee with $17MM salaries in each year and an opt-out after the first season. He suffered a lat strain in February and didn’t make it back to a big league mound until late June. He posted a 6.68 earned run average in seven starts and got moved to the bullpen. After two relief outings, he landed on the IL.

Montas will certainly forego his opt-out chance and keep that $17MM salary on the Mets’ books for next year. For their $34MM investment, they have so far received 38 2/3 innings with a 6.28 ERA. There’s a chance he returns late in 2026 but only for a few outings even in a best-case scenario.

The news doesn’t impact 2025. As mentioned, Montas had already been bumped to the bullpen even before being ruled out for the rest of the year. This means the club won’t be planning on him contributing in 2026 either. Thankfully, next year’s on-paper rotation looks a lot like the current group. Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson will all be back next year. Senga’s deal has a post-2025 opt-out but it’s conditional on him pitching 400 innings over the 2023-25 seasons. Since he missed most of last year, he’s only at 280 1/3 and won’t vest that opt-out.

In addition to those four, the Mets are turning to prospects Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong late this year. Either or both could be candidates for next year’s rotation. The same is true of Brandon Sproat, who is in Triple-A. Tylor Megill is currently on the IL but can be retained for 2026 via arbitration. Christian Scott has UCL surgery late in 2024 and could be back in the mix next year.

While it’s not ideal for the Mets to be paying $17MM plus taxes to a pitcher who is out of action, he had seemingly fallen out of their plans regardless. They have plenty of other pitchers and one of the top payrolls in the league, so they can absorb this hit better than most.

For Montas personally, he will eventually return to the open market ahead of the 2027 season, which will be his age-34 campaign. He missed most of 2023 recovering from shoulder surgery, so he won’t have a lot of momentum going into that return to free agency. He will be coming off a four-year stretch from 2023 to 2026 where he was only healthy in 2024 and had a 4.84 ERA that year.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Francisco Alvarez Suffers Finger Fracture, Still Hopes To Return This Year

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Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez was hit by a pitch on his left pinky finger last night. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that the backstop suffered a break in that finger but still hopes to be able to play in the majors later this year.

Alvarez was already in a challenging situation. He suffered a sprain of his right thumb a little over a week ago. Shortly after suffering that injury, it was reported that he will need surgery to correct it at some point. However, the recovery time from that surgery is six to seven weeks, which would carry well into October if he had it now. Alvarez and the Mets decided to delay the procedure until the offseason as he attempts to rest it enough to play through it.

He began that experiment by starting a rehab assignment last night. He doubled in his first plate appearance, grounded out in the second and then was hit by a pitch in the third. He was removed for a pinch runner and it now appears that he suffered a fracture.

Despite the break, Alvarez evidently feels he can get back on the field. Perhaps that is possible but it’s anyone’s guess what kind of production he can muster with a sprained thumb on his right hand and a fractured pinky on the other hand. He could perhaps heal up a bit but there’s only a month left in the regular season.

It perhaps helps that the club has cracked off three straight victories while the Reds have lost three in a row. That gives the Mets a cushion of 4.5 games and greatly increases their chances of making the playoffs. Instead of rushing Alvarez back for a playoff chase, perhaps they can pump the brakes a bit and focus on getting him healthy for the playoffs.

It’s a tough spot but it’s understandable why the Mets and Alvarez are taking this path. He has a .265/.349/.438 batting line and 125 wRC+ this year, despite an early-season slump which got him sent down to the minors for a little while. With him on the shelf, the Mets are left with Luis Torrens and Hayden Senger as their healthy catchers. Torrens is hitting .218/.282/.320 this year while Senger’s line is .180/.227/.197.

The glovework can be debated but Alvarez clearly has the greatest ability to make a difference with his bat. Perhaps the injuries will be too much of an impediment for him to make a short-term impact but there’s little harm in trying. Even if he doesn’t have the thumb surgery until the season is done, he could still be recovered in time to have a normal spring training in preparation for 2026.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Mets To Promote Jonah Tong

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3:03pm: Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed that Tong will be promoted and make his major league debut against the Marlins this Friday, per ESPN’s Jorge Castillo.

2:46pm: The Mets are set to promote top pitching prospect Jonah Tong for his major league debut, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. They’ll need to clear space on both the 40-man and 26-man rosters in order to formally select his contract from Triple-A Syracuse. Tong will be used as a starter, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Tong, 22, has been one of the best pitchers in all of Minor League Baseball in 2025. His stock has soared accordingly, and he’s leapfrogged Syracuse teammate Brandon Sproat as the top yet-to-debut pitching prospect in the Mets organization. He’ll join another ballyhooed young righty, Nolan McLean, in what amounts to a late-season youth movement for a Mets club that has seen veteran starters like Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn and Griffin Canning struggle and/or miss significant time due to injury.

A seventh-round pick back in 2022, Tong opened the current season in Double-A and posted a video-game-esque 1.59 ERA and 40.8% strikeout rate in 102 innings there. That earned him a bump to Triple-A, where he’s some improved. Tong has tossed 11 2/3 scoreless innings with the Mets’ top affiliate, allowing only eight hits and three walks (6.7%) while punching out 17 of 45 opponents (37.8%).

Tong’s dominant season has catapulted him toward the top of the Mets’ prospect rankings and into the elite tier of leaguewide prospects. Baseball America ranks the 6’1″, 180-pound righty as the sport’s No. 42 overall prospect, and Tong sits 44th at MLB.com. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel has Tong up at No. 21 on the updated top-100 list he released earlier this week.

That slight frame, Tong’s arm slot and his usage of a plus changeup invoke some comparisons to former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, though his overall delivery isn’t nearly as violent. Scouting reports on Tong typically cite him sitting 92-94 mph with elite induced vertical break, but he’s averaged 95.7 mph in his pair of Triple-A outings thus far. That previously mentioned changeup, which sits in the mid-80s, has been Tong’s go-to secondary offering and misses bats in droves. He also mixes in a curveball in the upper 70s and a slider that sits 87 mph.

Since he was called up after Aug. 15, Tong cannot accrue 45 days of service time this year and will thus retain his rookie eligibility heading into the 2026 campaign. That will qualify him for MLB’s Prospect Promotion Incentive program, meaning he could net the Mets a compensatory pick if he breaks camp with next year’s team and wins NL Rookie of the Year — or if he finishes top-three in Cy Young or MVP voting in any of his first three full MLB seasons. In terms of club control, the Mets can keep Tong all the way through the 2031 season, and he wouldn’t qualify for arbitration until the 2028-29 offseason.

While Tong is very arguably already one of the best 13 pitchers in the Mets system and thus deserving of a chance to help the team push into the postseason, the late promotion also offers Mets faithful a glimpse at the future. Tong and McLean will have the opportunity to join Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Manaea as rotation arms moving forward. Sproat and former top prospect Christian Scott, who’s on the mend from last summer’s Tommy John surgery, only further add to that impressive crop of pitching.

It’s not yet clear exactly how New York will work all of those arms onto the staff, but that’s an issue for a future day. For the time being, the focus will be on Tong stepping into the heat of a playoff race, looking to continue his meteoric ascent and, ideally, impressing enough to position himself as a core piece in Queens.

Francisco Alvarez To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez has resumed swinging a bat and is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment this week, writes MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. It’d be a remarkably quick return for the 23-year-old, who suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb earlier this month. Manager Carlos Mendoza expressed shock when he was sent video of Alvarez already swinging a bat this past Sunday. “When I was looking at it, I was like, ’There’s no way this guy is swinging the bat,'” said Mendoza.

Alvarez will require surgery after the season, but he’ll gut out the injury to the extent that he’s able to tolerate the pain it causes. DiComo notes that the Mets would prefer to use him behind the plate rather than at designated hitter, where Starling Marte has been swinging a blistering hot bat for the past few weeks, but the team won’t rule out the possibility of Alvarez mixing in at DH.

The mere notion of Alvarez returning in short order seemed outlandish at the time of his IL placement and the revelation that he’d require eventual surgery. However, given the production he’d turned in prior to suffering that injury on a slide into second base, it’s not a surprise that the Mets are looking at an aggressive timetable. Alvarez struggled enough early this season to find himself demoted to Triple-A in late June, but he returned a month later and exploded with a .323/.408/.645 batting line in 71 plate appearances before incurring his ill-timed injury.

Certainly, it’d be a lot to expect Alvarez to replicate or even approximate that level of play. That said, there’s a fairly low bar to clear behind the plate — at least from an offensive standpoint. Luis Torrens is hitting just .221/.282/.324 in 241 plate appearances this season, while rookie Hayden Senger has slashed .172/.210/.190 in his first 63 big league plate appearances.

A quick turnaround for Alvarez isn’t the only aggressive move being pondered by the Mets, who are also reportedly mulling a promotion for touted pitching prospect Jonah Tong. The 2022 seventh-rounder could feasibly join fellow rookie and top pitching prospect Nolan McLean in the rotation down the stretch. The Mets have sustained multiple rotation injuries to their starting staff (Frankie Montas, Griffin Canning, Tylor Megill) and are scrambling to hold onto a Wild Card spot in the National League. New York is 15-19 since the All-Star break and just 8-14 in August.

The Mets entered the All-Star break in possession of the second Wild Card spot and just a half game behind the Phillies in the NL East. They’re now six games behind Philadelphia in the division and 3.5 games behind San Diego for the second Wild Card spot. The Mets are still 2.5 games up on the Reds for that final spot, but New York has the slightly tougher schedule the rest of the way — including a pivotal three-game set in Cincinnati from Sept. 5-7. The Mets have just a .431 winning percentage on the road, whereas the Reds have won at a .554 clip at home.

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