Mets Place Kodai Senga On Injured List
The Mets announced Tuesday that righty Kodai Senga has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to lumbar spinal inflammation. Right-hander Christian Scott has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse in his place.
Senga, the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year runner-up, has seen his standing in the Mets organization drop precipitously in recent seasons. He missed the 2024 season due to injury, came back strong early in 2025 but crumbled over the summer. Although he finished the 2025 season with a 3.02 ERA, all of Senga’s production came in the season’s first three months. He struggled so much in the summer — 6.56 ERA, eight homers, 22 walks in 35 2/3 innings — that he consented to be optioned by the Mets.
The early returns in 2026 were promising. Senga yielded only two runs with an 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in 9 2/3 spring frames. He totaled 11 2/3 innings and held opponents to four runs with a 16-to-5 K/BB ratio in his first two starts this year. He looked to be getting back on track — at least until his third start of the season. Senga was tagged for seven runs, followed with another seven-run clunker (six earned), and lasted only 2 2/3 innings (three runs allowed) in his most recent start. Over his past three turns, he’s totaled just 8 1/3 innings but been shelled for 16 earned runs on the strength of five homers — all with more walks issued (eight) than strikeouts recorded (seven).
Senga averaged a hefty 97.4 mph on his four-seamer in his 2026 debut, but it’s been downhill since then. His average fastball dipped to 96 mph in his second start and sat between 95.1 mph and 95.7 mph in each of his three subsequent starts. That’s still better-than-average velocity, but a drop of two miles per hour since March 31 certainly seems to suggest that he’s been pitching at less than 100 percent.
The Mets haven’t provided a timetable for Senga’s return. That’ll presumably come closer to today’s game, when skipper Carlos Mendoza meets with the media. Regardless, today’s injury announcement continues a worrying downward trendline for Senga. His struggles have played a notable role in the Mets’ underperformance as a whole, and getting the right-hander healthy would go a long way toward the Mets digging themselves out of the awful 9-19 hole they’ve dug in the season’s first month.
Scott, once one of the game’s top pitching prospects, will look to play his own role in that turnaround. He entered the 2024 season considered to be the Mets’ top pitching prospect and one of the top 100 prospects in the sport. He had a decent debut that summer but wound up requiring Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2025 campaign. Scott made his big league return last week against the Twins, and it didn’t go well; he faced 10 batters, walking five of them and plunking a sixth. He didn’t make it out of the second inning, and the Mets optioned him back to Triple-A the following day.
That’s not a great start to his big league campaign, but Scott has had more encouraging results in Syracuse. Granted, a 5.27 ERA isn’t much to look at, but it’s come in a small sample of 13 2/3 innings. Scott was roughed up for six runs through 3 1/3 frames in his first game action since 2024, but he rebounded with just two total runs allowed across 10 1/3 innings in his next two Triple-A starts. He’s sitting on a strong 17-to-2 K/BB ratio in Syracuse, though he’s also hit a pair of batters there. Still, Scott has a nearly 30% strikeout rate and is sitting 95.4 mph on his four-seamer this year — a full mile per hour north of the 94.1 mph he averaged back in 2024.
The Mets have gotten brilliant results from rookie ace Nolan McLean and veteran Clay Holmes. Offseason acquisition Freddy Peralta had a rocky start but has strung together three sharp outings. Senga and David Peterson have struggled throughout the year. The former is now on the injured list, while the latter was moved into the bullpen for the current turn through the rotation. If Scott struggles again in Senga’s place, it’s possible Peterson will be plugged back into that rotation spot, but the situation seems fluid with several underperforming and/or injured options on the staff.
Mets Notes: Rotation, Shortstop
The Mets’ rotation — and roster at large — has underwhelmed thus far in 2026. Mets starting pitchers rank 19th in the majors with a 4.24 ERA and are tied for the game’s sixth-highest walk rate at 10%. In particular, struggles from Kodai Senga and David Peterson have set them back. New York turned to Christian Scott for his first big league start since 2024’s Tommy John surgery yesterday against the Twins, but he walked five of the 10 hitters he faced and plunked a sixth before being lifted from the game in the second inning.
Will Sammon and Tim Britton of The Athletic report that at least for now, the plan is for Scott to make another start next week. The Mets have Peterson, Sean Manaea and Tobias Myers all pitching out of the bullpen right now and will work to keep them all stretched out, given the uncertainty in the rotation. If they end up needing a fresh arm — Peterson and Myers both threw 40-plus pitches in long relief yesterday — it’s possible Scott could instead be optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Any of those more veteran options in the ‘pen could then step in for a start in Scott’s place.
Scott and young ace Nolan McLean are the only two members of the Mets’ rotation who can be optioned. The latter, of course, isn’t going anywhere. In the bullpen, only Myers and Huascar Brazobán can be optioned. The lack of flexibility, coupled with the Mets’ injured and underperforming lineup, prompts Britton and Sammon to wonder whether president of baseball operations David Stearns might eventually explore the trade of a pitcher to help bolster the offense.
Trades of any real significance are rare this early in the season, but there are a handful of notable April or May deals in recent history. The Brewers picked up Quinn Priester from the Red Sox last April, for instance. A year prior, the Marlins shipped Luis Arraez to the Padres in early May. As The Athletic duo points out, when Stearns was running things in Milwaukee, he acquired Willy Adames from the Rays in a May trade.
The Mets aren’t going to get a hitter of any note for Manaea or Senga with their contracts underwater. They could perhaps try to swap either for a hitter with a similarly undesirable contract, but that sort of player isn’t going to help turn the lineup around. The best version of the Mets would have McLean and Freddy Peralta atop the rotation, and the Mets parted with multiple top prospects to get Peralta this winter, so he’s not an early candidate to move. Clay Holmes‘ opt-out opportunity at season’s end tamps down his value.
Speculatively speaking, Peterson feels like the most logical candidate to move in that type of scenario. He’s a free agent at season’s end, earning $8MM, and currently working in the ‘pen. The 30-year-old lefty had a tough run of three starts before being moved into a long relief role, but he started 30 games last year and finished the season with a 4.22 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate in 168 2/3 innings. He’s allowed one run over his past two appearances — a total of seven innings. He’s not going to net a controllable, established hitter, but the Mets could try to swap him out for a veteran bat with similar service time.
There’s no indication at this point that the Mets are actively seeking to ship out a pitcher and/or bring in another bat via trade, to be clear, but it’s worth keeping in mind as the season progresses. That’s especially true with star shortstop Francisco Lindor hitting the injured list due to a calf strain this week.
In place of Lindor, it’ll be just-recalled Ronny Mauricio getting most of the reps at shortstop, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets could slide Bo Bichette over to shortstop on occasion, but DiComo notes that the club has been pleased with Bichette’s move to third base so far. Bichette has been charged with a pair of throwing errors through his first 210 frames at the hot corner but has generally corralled anything hit in his direction. Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (0) and Outs Above Average (1) feel he’s been perfectly adequate during his foray into a new position.
Shortstop is a familiar spot on the diamond for Mauricio. The 25-year-old, who ranked as a top-100 prospect for years before injuries (namely a torn ACL) set him back, has logged nearly 3900 professional innings at the position. He’s healthy now and was playing all over the diamond in Syracuse prior to his recall, though he did spend more time (seven games) at shortstop than at any other position. Even if Lindor hadn’t suffered an injury, pressure to recall Mauricio was mounting. He’s bludgeoned Triple-A pitching so far in 2026, raking at a .293/.349/.638 pace (150 wRC+) with six homers and five stolen bases through 63 turns at the plate.
It’s not clear just how long Mauricio’s runway will be. The Mets haven’t given a timetable for Lindor’s return, with manager Carlos Mendoza telling reporters only that Lindor will “be down quite a bit here.” He’s looking at more than a minimum stint, but the Mets haven’t specified whether Lindor is looking at an absence of three to four weeks or something more appropriately measured in months. Regardless, the injury gives Mauricio a rare everyday opportunity with the Mets — something that’s generally eluded him in recent years as he’s sought to establish himself in the majors.
Mets Planning To Recall Christian Scott For Thursday Start
The Mets will recall righty Christian Scott from Triple-A Syracuse to start Thursday’s series finale against the Twins, manager Carlos Mendoza tells the team’s beat (link via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo). It’ll be Scott’s first big league action since undergoing Tommy John surgery during the summer of 2024. He’ll square off against Twins top starter Joe Ryan.
Scott, now 26 years old, once ranked as the organization’s top pitching prospect and one of the top prospects in the entire sport. He made his major league debut in 2024 and posted a 4.56 ERA with 19.8% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate in his first nine starts in the Mets’ rotation. He’d previously tossed 42 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA, 33.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate at the Triple-A level. His surgery didn’t take place until September, so he was never going to be an option for the Mets in 2025.
At this point, Scott is 19 months removed from going under the knife. He held opponents to three runs in six spring innings and has tossed 13 2/3 innings in Syracuse so far in 2026. His 5.27 ERA isn’t much to look at, but Scott has set down 29.3% of his opponents against a microscopic 3.4% walk rate. His 95.3 mph average four-seamer is actually up about a mile per hour over his prior levels. He’s pairing that pitch with a slider and splitter — the same three-pitch mix he featured prior to his elbow injury.
Outside of Nolan McLean, the Mets’ rotation is something of a mess at the moment. Freddy Peralta has been solid but not as effective as expected when trading a pair of top-100 prospects for the final season of his contract. David Peterson‘s 5.40 ERA is tied heavily to a sky-high .373 average on balls in play, but the results are discouraging nonetheless. Clay Holmes has a sub-2.00 ERA but is working with diminished strikeout and walk rates; metrics like FIP (4.18) and SIERA (4.23) feel he’s in line for a change of fortune. Lefty Sean Manaea, in the second season of a three-year deal guaranteeing him $75MM (with some notable deferrals), has been relegated to a long relief/swing role.
Most concerning of all is right-hander Kodai Senga, whom the Mets optioned to Triple-A last summer amid a series of struggles that looks to have been rekindled. The 33-year-old started the season in strong fashion (four runs, 16-to-5 K/BB ratio in his first 11 2/3 innings) but has lasted only 5 2/3 innings over his past two starts. In that time, he’s been shelled for 14 runs (13 earned) on 14 hits and five walks with only six strikeouts (17.1%).
For the time being, Mendoza indicated that Senga would stay in the rotation. His start date will be pushed back to Saturday, however. Peterson, meanwhile, will pitch out of the bullpen during the upcoming turn through the rotation (via SNY’s Chelsea Janes). It doesn’t seem that move is permanent, but with the Mets mired in a calamitous 11-game losing streak, they’re pulling some levers to try to change the team’s fortunes and avoid the doomsday scenario of digging an April hole that’s simply too large to escape.
The tumult in the Mets’ rotation could pave the way for Scott to carve out a lasting spot. His workload will probably be monitored closely this season, but the Mets can find ways to try to manage that if he’s pitching like one of the team’s five best starters. From a service time vantage point, Scott only needs 56 days on the major league roster or injured list this season to cross from one to two years of service. Doing so would put him on track for arbitration following the 2028 season and free agency following the 2030 campaign. He’s currently in the second of his three minor league option years.
Mets Notes: Peralta, Senga, Benge
The Mets acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the Brewers earlier this week, which led to immediate speculation about his new club potentially pursuing an extension. That probably won’t happen right away, however. Tim Britton and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported earlier this week that the club plans to give Peralta some time to get comfortable with his new club. President of baseball operations David Stearns later addressed the media via videoconference and his comments matched that reporting.
“I’m not going to speculate on that Day 1 here,” Stearns said of the extension possibility, per Jorge Castillo of ESPN. “We’ll let Freddy get acclimated to the organization. And, you know, any conversations that we may have or have in the future I think we’re going to do our best to keep private and not talk about publicly.”
The reason Peralta was traded away from Milwaukee is that the Brewers generally don’t spend at a level to keep their best players. Guys like Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes and Devin Williams have all been traded in recent years as they reached free agency. Peralta ended up going down the same road but his new club has far deeper pockets than his previous team.
Stearns is very familiar with Peralta and is clearly fond of him. He already signed him to an extension once, when both were with the Brewers back in 2020. This week, Stearns surrendered a couple of notable prospects by sending Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee in order to reunite with Peralta and acquire Tobias Myers.
Now that Stearns has access to more financial resources, he would presumably love to get Peralta to sign on the dotted line again. Based on this week’s scuttlebutt, it seems there won’t be a rush to get that done. Spring training is a common time for extension talks to take place, so maybe more news will trickle out in the next couple of months. In-season extensions are rare but not totally unprecedented. If Peralta gets to the end of 2026 healthy and without a deal in place, he would be a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer on his way to free agency.
Stearns also addressed a couple of other players on the roster in a sit-down with team reporter Andy Martino. In that interview, Stearns says that outfield prospect Carson Benge still has a chance to break camp with the team even after the Luis Robert Jr. acquisition and that Kodai Senga is expected to be in the rotation.
Back in November, Stearns said that Benge would have a chance to make the team. Not long after making those statements, the Mets opened up a big hole in their outfield by trading away Brandon Nimmo for second baseman Marcus Semien. They then made a spirited effort to sign Kyle Tucker, offering him a four-year deal with a heavy average annual value, but he accepted a similar offer from the Dodgers. The Mets then pivoted and acquired Robert from the White Sox via trade.
After the shuffle, there’s still a path for Benge. The Mets currently project to have Juan Soto in right and Robert in center. At the moment, Benge would seemingly be battling with Tyrone Taylor for the job in left. Taylor is a light hitter but a strong defender, so he would ideally be pushed into a fourth outfielder role by Benge taking the left field job. And given Robert’s history, there’s a decent chance of Taylor ending up getting regular playing time in center as well.
Benge has no major league experience yet and isn’t on the 40-man roster. His Triple-A work is also short and unimpressive, though he was perhaps unlucky there. He began last year at High-A and tore through that level as well as Double-A, slashing a combined .308/.413/.513 for a 174 wRC+ at those two stops while playing all three outfield positions. He finished his 2025 with a .178/.272/.311 slash at Triple-A, though that was in a tiny sample of 103 plate appearances, during which he had a .188 batting average on balls in play.
The Mets are showing a good amount of faith in Benge by leaving a door open for him, even after he put up those rough numbers in Triple-A. If he doesn’t perform in the spring, they have a few fallback options in addition to Taylor. Brett Baty no longer has a position after the Bo Bichette signing and could end up out in left field. Vidal Bruján and Jared Young are infielder/outfielders on the roster. Cristian Pache and Ji Hwan Bae are non-roster options. The Mets may add to that group but it may be more depth additions if they want Benge to still have a path.
As for Senga, he looked dominant in 2023 when he posted a 2.98 earned run average but hasn’t been as much of a sure thing since then. He missed most of 2024 due to injury. Last year, he struggled enough to get optioned to the minors in September. He then popped up in some trade rumors this offseason but is still on the roster. Assuming Stearns is being forthright in his recent comments, Senga will have a rotation job when the season begins.
As of now, the rotation candidates include Peralta, Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea and Senga. McLean still has options but it would be quite surprising if the Mets sent him down, given how he dominated in his first eight big league starts. If everyone stays healthy, then the Mets may need to run a six-man rotation or bump someone to the bullpen.
Holmes was a reliever prior to last year and could return to that role but he had a pretty good season as a starter, posting a 3.53 ERA. Manaea and Peterson have occasionally been bumped to long relief roles and could perhaps do so again. A six-man rotation would keep all the starters a bit more fresh but would leave the Mets with a seven-man bullpen, given the 13-pitcher roster limit.
This would only really be an issue for as long as everyone is healthy, which doesn’t happen very often in today’s game. If multiple injuries arise, Myers, Jonah Tong, Christian Scott and others are on the roster and should be ready to step up.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Mets Notes: King, Senga, Scott, Minter, Alonso
The Mets were linked to Michael King‘s market earlier this week, and the team’s interest is developed enough that the two sides had a video meeting, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reports. Sherman adds that King’s past experience pitching in New York with the Yankees is a plus for the Mets, and the likelihood that King will sign a somewhat shorter-term contract matches the Amazins’ preference to avoid long-term commitments to pitchers.
MLB Trade Rumors did project King for a four-year, $80MM deal, while ranking the right-hander 14th on our list of the winter’s top 50 free agents. At least eight other teams besides the Mets have been connected to King, so it’s possible there’s enough interest for King to lock in a four-year guarantee just because frontline pitching is such a valued asset. That said, the 2024 season represents King’s only full season as a starter, as he was limited to 15 starts and 73 1/3 innings with the Padres last season due primarily to a pinched nerve in his shoulder, and then a bout of knee inflammation.
King felt confident enough in his market to reject San Diego’s qualifying offer, and so any team that signs the righty will have to cough up some kind of draft compensation. For a luxury tax-paying team like the Mets, the penalty for signing a qualified free agent is particularly steep, as New York would have to surrender $1MM in international bonus pool money as well as their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2026 draft.
There has been speculation that King might be open to accepting a shorter-term contract with an opt-out clause or two, perhaps so he could re-enter the market as soon as next winter on the heels of a healthy and productive season. Giving up two picks for just one year of King carries some risk for the Mets even if that would fit their short-term window, and if King has a good enough year that he’s willing to opt out, that’s also a boost to the pitching staff. Given how New York’s rotation was beset by injuries in 2025, the Mets would probably prefer to add a pitcher with more of a proven track record of durability, but acquiring such a player could come with a higher price tag of years or money.
Speaking of the Mets’ injury-plagued rotation, president of baseball operations David Stearns gave a few updates on the staff while speaking with SNY’s Ben Krimmel, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo (multiple links), and other reporters at the Winter Meetings. Perhaps the most noteworthy update focused on Kodai Senga, who Stearns said is feeling “as good physically as he has since that 2023 season.” The executive called this “the most encouraging development we’ve had in terms of our offseason player progression,” and said Senga was planning to return to the U.S. from Japan to throw around the end of December.
After bursting onto the MLB scene with a fantastic 2023 campaign, Senga pitched in just one game in 2024, and then more injuries and a downturn in form led to the righty tossing just 113 1/3 frames for the Mets this past season. Senga got off to a terrific start in 2025 but never seemed the same after a month-long stint on the IL due to a hamstring strain. After posting a 5.90 ERA over what ended up being his final 39 2/3 MLB innings of the season, Senga agreed to be optioned to Triple-A in September, and he allowed five earned runs over two starts and 9 2/3 innings with Syracuse.
Reports indicate that the Mets are open to trading Senga, and moving on from the last two years and $28MM of his contract. For his part, Senga wants to stay with the Mets, and his 10-team no-trade clause gives him some degree of control over his fate. Considering how the Amazins need pitching themselves, simply keeping Senga is also certainly an option, especially if the club is encouraged that he’ll be able to stay healthy. Then again, Stearns’ comments may also be read as an executive perhaps trying to calm any doubts about Senga’s health in order to help facilitate a trade.
In other rotation news, Stearns said Christian Scott will be fully ready for the start of Spring Training. Scott underwent a Tommy John/internal brace hybrid procedure in September 2024 that kept the right-hander sidelined for the entirety of the 2025 campaign. This absence made Scott a bit of a forgotten man behind other highly-touted Mets pitching prospects, yet it wasn’t long ago that Scott was himself a well-regarded arm who made a rapid climb up the minor league ladder. Scott made his MLB debut in 2024, posting a 4.56 ERA over nine starts and 47 1/3 innings before being sidelined by injury.
A.J. Minter is also returning from a season-ending surgery, as the reliever’s 2025 campaign was cut short by a torn lat muscle in May. The lengthy rehab process could extend into the 2026 season, as Stearns said it isn’t a guarantee that Minter will be ready by Opening Day, though Minter isn’t expected to miss much time if he does need to begin the year on the injured list.
The Mets have gotten little return on last offseason’s two-year, $22MM investment in Minter, and it isn’t great that there’s still a question mark hanging over his immediate availability for 2026. The veteran southpaw’s 2024 campaign was also hampered by hip problems that eventually required a season-ending surgery, so it has been some time since Minter was fully healthy. Between Minter’s status and the free agency of Edwin Diaz and several other members of the 2025 relief corps, it is no wonder that New York continues to be focused on more bullpen additions, beyond their three-year deal with Devin Williams.
Stearns also addressed Pete Alonso‘s upcoming visit to the Winter Meetings, as Alonso (who lives in Tampa) is expected to head to Orlando to conduct in-person meetings with the Orioles, Red Sox, and any other teams interested in his services. While the Mets remain interested in re-signing the Polar Bear, Stearns said “I think Pete knows us really well, and I think we know Pete really well. I think he’ll take the time here to perhaps meet with organizations he doesn’t know quite as well, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”
Kodai Senga Prefers To Remain With Mets In 2026
Mets right-hander Kodai Senga has indicated to the club that he would prefer to remain in Queens for next season rather than be traded elsewhere this winter, according to a report from Will Sammon of The Athletic. Sammon adds, however, that the Mets might still trade him this offseason. Senga’s contract includes a ten-team no-trade clause that gives him limited say over where he can be traded.
The news is noteworthy given the fact that Senga, 33 in January, is a known trade candidate who the Mets have indicated they’re open to offers on and has drawn interest from rival organizations. Sammon notes that some teams don’t view this year’s crop of free agent starters particularly highly, and that lukewarm interest in those arms has led some teams to view Senga as a buy-low candidate worth considering. The right-hander’s appeal is somewhat obvious; he has a career 3.00 ERA and 3.82 FIP across three seasons in this majors, and just this past season offered the Mets with a 3.02 ERA across 22 starts.
That’s solid production for a starter as it is, and the fact that Senga will make just $28MM over the next two years (with an affordable club option for the 2028 season) figures to make Senga all the more attractive given that last year’s free agent market saw one-year rolls of the dice on veterans with health or age question marks like Alex Cobb and Charlie Morton cost $15MM. Opportunities to add a potential front-of-the-rotation talent on that affordable of a deal are few and far between, and that’s sure to draw interest from plenty of suitors.
That shouldn’t be taken to mean there aren’t complicating factors at play, of course. After all, the Mets themselves are in need of top-of-the-rotation impact in their rotation. They wouldn’t consider dealing Senga at this juncture if there wasn’t some cause for concern. Talented and productive as the right-hander clearly is, Senga has been unreliable during his time in Queens. He’s made just 52 starts at the big league level across three seasons after he missed nearly the entire 2024 campaign due to shoulder and calf issues. 2025 saw him battle a hamstring strain that caused him to miss a month of playing time, and he posted a 5.90 ERA in nine starts following his return to the mound before he agreed to be optioned to Triple-A for the remainder of the 2025 season in early September.
That Senga was pulled from the rotation entirely when the Mets were fighting for their playoff lives suggests a lack of confidence in the righty from Mets personnel, and president of baseball operations David Stearns himself called it “foolish” to count on Senga to make a full slate of starts headed into 2025. There’s an argument to be made that Senga’s issues regarding injuries and inconsistencies are more likely to get worse than improve as he heads into his mid-30s, and a Mets rotation that’s deep in viable options but lacking in reliable impact talent might prefer to use that spot in the rotation on a more reliable free agent or trade acquisition.
The Mets have already shown this offseason they aren’t afraid to shake up the team’s status quo, shipping out long time Met Brandon Nimmo in a deal that brought back Marcus Semien. Other Mets stalwarts like Jeff McNeil are known to be on the trading block as well, and after the club’s disappointing 2025 season it seems as though the Mets clubhouse will look very different next year. Whether or not that includes Senga could depend on the specifics of his no-trade list. If the Mets are truly motivated to move on from Senga, they’d surely be able to do so to one of the league’s 20 teams that Senga can’t block a deal to.
Things might not be that simple, however, as Senga’s upside and value on the market would surely make them hesitant to deal him for an underwhelming return. The teams on Senga’s no-trade list aren’t presently known, so it’s entirely possible that the clubs most aggressively interested in his services are also ones he can block a deal to. While today’s news of Senga’s preference to stay in New York certainly shouldn’t lead anyone to rule out the possibility of him being dealt, it’s undeniable that it creates at least a possible obstacle to the Mets finding a deal they’re happy with.
If Senga does stay in Queens, that shouldn’t preclude the club from bringing in another top-of-the-rotation arm. Top prospect Nolan McLean, right-hander Clay Holmes, southpaw Sean Manaea, and lefty David Peterson figure to round out the Mets’ rotation alongside Senga as things stand. McLean has options remaining but figures to be a lock for the rotation given his results in 2025 and prospect pedigree. Manaea, Peterson, and Holmes all cannot be optioned to the minors but have experience pitching out of the bullpen, which could create some flexibility if necessary. Trading one of those three could be a plausible solution as well, though none would seem likely to bring back as strong of a return as Senga and Manaea in particular could be difficult to move given his hefty salary and difficult 2025 campaign.
Mets Making Brandon Nimmo, Kodai Senga Available In Trade Talks
With Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz headed into free agency on the heels of a season where the Mets shockingly missed the postseason, it goes without saying that some significant changes will be coming to the Mets’ roster this winter. Much of the focus, naturally, has been on potential additions, whether that’s bringing back Alonso and Diaz or making a splash in the starting pitching market. There’s also been plenty of talk regarding players the Mets could look to part ways with on the trade market, however, and today Jeff Passan of ESPN made clear that two more names are available on the Mets’ roster: outfielder Brandon Nimmo and right-hander Kodai Senga.
Nimmo, 33 in March, is a somewhat surprising trade candidate due to the many complications surrounding a potential deal. The veteran has spent all ten seasons of his MLB career in Queens and has a no-trade clause. Nimmo would have to agree to any trade, which would naturally limit his suitors. While hardly an albatross, his contract isn’t exactly appealing, either. Nimmo has five years left on the eight-year, $162MM contract he signed with the Mets during the 2022-23 offseason. Just over $101MM of that money has yet to be paid out, and it’s hard to imagine Nimmo approaching five years and $101MM in free agency this winter if he was a free agent.
That would likely leave the Mets in a position where they would need to pay down a significant portion of Nimmo’s contract in order to facilitate a deal. Nimmo has been generally productive throughout his time in New York but has watched his numbers fall off a bit over the past two seasons. Since the start of the 2024 campaign, he’s slashed a combined .244/.326/.418 with 48 homers and 52 doubles, a 22.7% strikeout rate against a 9.8% walk rate, and a wRC+ of 111. He’s been worth 5.8 WAR according to Fangraphs and 5.1 WAR according to Baseball Reference over the past two years. While he was once a capable center fielder, his defense has dropped off enough that he’s more of a roughly average glove in a corner outfield spot, with -1 Outs Above Average and +3 Defensive Runs Saves in outfield this season with him starting 146 of his 147 games in the field out in left.
A two-to-three win corner outfielder is certainly something plenty of teams could use, and Nimmo does deserve acknowledgement for his reliability. Outside of his 32-game debut season in 2016, Nimmo has never posted a wRC+ below 108. Injury woes early in his career have subsided as well, and he’s played in at least 150 games with at least 650 plate appearances in each of the past four years. That four year stretch has seen him average 22 homers, 28 doubles, and a 10.2% walk rate against a 21.0% strikeout rate. With an above average track record in the outfield, he’ll surely be appealing to teams if the Mets were willing to pay down enough of his salary to make the inevitable decline as Nimmo enters his mid-to-late 30s easier to stomach.
Finding a fit for Nimmo’s services depends entirely on how much money the Mets would be willing to eat and where Nimmo would be willing to be traded. The Royals and Guardians are two of the teams most desperately in need of outfield help in the game, but they operate with small budgets and may not be the sort of consistent contender a veteran like Nimmo would surely prefer to play for. The Phillies have money to spend, a hole in the outfield, and recent success, but it would be a shock to see the Mets trade a franchise stalwart to one of their biggest rivals. Perhaps the Yankees would be a fit as they look for outfield help, though the club may simply prefer to re-sign Cody Bellinger or Trent Grisham rather than bring Nimmo into the fold.
As for Senga, the mercurial right-hander has already been known to be garnering interest on the market, though the Mets’ level of interest in moving hasn’t been clear. Passan reports that the righty is “extremely available,” however, and adds that multiple executives expect him to be traded this winter. The Orioles, Cubs, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Padres are on a long list of teams known to be looking for starting pitching help this winter, and any could make sense as trade partners for the Mets if they do decide to move Senga. The two years and $28MM guaranteed remaining on Senga’s contract could make him a particularly intriguing fit for teams hoping to fill a rotation spot on a budget like San Diego.
While the Mets are expected to add to their rotation rather than subtract this winter, room will need to be made in the rotation mix for external additions as well as up-and-coming youngsters like Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. That’s enough to make a Senga trade worth thinking about for the front office, especially given the highs that could make him enticing to suitors have been matched by equally distressing lows.
The righty sports a career 3.00 ERA and 3.82 FIP across three seasons in the majors to go with a 26.8% strikeout rate, but an 11.1% walk rate, struggles bouncing back from injuries, and the fact that he’ll turn 33 in January all raise questions about his future. Senga struggled badly enough in the second half this past year that he agreed to be optioned to the minor leagues in September and would only have been part of the Mets’ playoff picture if their rotation mix suffered multiple October injuries, suggesting that the organization had little faith in the righty at the end of this past season.
Kodai Senga Garnering Trade Interest
Mets right-hander Kodai Senga has already garnered trade interest from multiple clubs, Will Sammon of The Athletic reports. The Mets aren’t known to be outright shopping the 2023 Rookie of the Year runner-up, but they’ve at least held discussions as they’ve been approached by interested teams.
Those who don’t follow the Mets closely might raise an eyebrow at the idea of a win-now club like the Mets trading a pitcher who carries a flat 3.00 ERA in 285 innings across 52 MLB starts. That includes a tidy 3.02 ERA in 113 1/3 innings this past season. However, Senga’s standing in the organization fell in the second half of the 2025 campaign. After a shoulder injury limited him to just one start in 2024, Senga returned on a hot streak, posting a 1.74 ERA in his first 13 trips to the mound.
That superlative production never appeared fully sustainable. Senga’s 23.9% strikeout rate was good but not great, and his 10.6% walk rate was nearly two percentage points higher than average. His .251 average on balls in play and 88% strand rate both seemed ripe for regression. Still, metrics like FIP (3.24) and SIERA (4.28) felt he was still a quality or at least serviceable arm even if his ERA was bound to take some steps back.
Senga sustained a calf strain in mid-June that sent him to the injured list for nearly one month. It’s a fairly innocuous-sounding injury, but whether he rushed back too soon or simply developed some bad mechanical habits while compensating for the resulting discomfort, the rest of Senga’s season was a nightmare. From July 11 through Aug. 31, he took the ball nine times and turned in a 5.90 ERA with a diminished 20.6% strikeout rate and an even more problematic 12.7% walk rate. And after allowing just 0.59 homers per nine innings in his first 13 starts, Senga’s HR/9 mark more than tripled during that miserable nine-start stretch (1.82).
The Mets optioned Senga to Triple-A — a move to which the right-hander had to consent — in hopes of getting him back on track. Senga, however, didn’t return to the majors in the season’s final month. The Mets rode a contingent of rookies down the stretch, leaning heavily on Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat in the rotation as they eventually narrowly missed a return to postseason play.
The fact that Senga didn’t return to the majors leaves him as something of a question mark. He made two starts in Triple-A following his demotion: one very good (six innings, one run, eight strikeouts, no walks) and another very poor (3 2/3 innings, four runs, two walks, one hit batter, four strikeouts). It’s difficult to glean exactly which version of Senga will show up. Outstanding as he was during his rookie season, injuries and this year’s second-half struggles have limited him to a total of 146 innings (majors and minors combined) across the past two seasons.
If the Mets had four healthy, mostly established other options in the rotation, it’d be easier to simply hope for a Senga rebound. They lack that stability, however. New York’s rotation will surely include McLean, who dazzled as a rookie. Veteran David Peterson finished with a respectable 4.22 ERA but faceplanted down the stretch, pitching to an 8.42 ERA over his final nine starts. Reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes had a successful move to the rotation but only pitched beyond five innings four times in his final 18 appearances and posted ugly strikeout and walk rates in that time (15.8 K%, 10.6 BB%). Sean Manaea posted a 5.64 ERA in just 60 2/3 frames thanks to injuries. Frankie Montas and Tylor Megill both had UCL surgery. Tong and Sproat have sizable upside but remain unproven.
Given all that tumult in the starting staff, rotation help is a natural priority for the Mets this winter. That only makes uncertainty surrounding Senga all the more confounding. On the one hand, selling low on a pitcher who has often looked like a top-of-the-rotation arm and is at least ostensibly healthy seems like a risk the team can ill afford to take. On the other hand, Senga’s uneven 2025 season is a driving factor behind the Mets’ current rotation instability. If they’re not confident he can get back on track, moving him now would be prudent. It’d only become more difficult to deal Senga if he suffers an early injury or pitches poorly despite a clean bill of health.
The Mets owe Senga $14MM in both 2026 and 2027. If he suffers a major elbow injury that requires surgery, a conditional $15MM club option would be tacked onto the deal. A total guarantee of two years and $28MM is eminently affordable, although the Mets are effectively paying double that amount since they’re being hit with a 110% tax on all dollars spent over the top tier of the luxury tax threshold.
Senga’s contract included a full no-trade clause covering the first three seasons of the five-year pact. That’s now shrunk to a limited 10-team no-trade list for the final two years of the deal. The list of teams to which he can block a move isn’t clear at present, but the Mets have more latitude to trade him than in the past.
New York certainly isn’t going to just dump the remainder of Senga’s contract for no return. There’s far too much upside, particularly relative to his modest salary. Any team looking to pry Senga loose will have to offer up some actual talent, though clearly not as much as Senga would command were he coming off a healthy, successful season. Then again, if Senga were coming off that type of season, the very idea of trading him would be a nonstarter for the Mets. Questions about his health, mechanics and results have at least nudged Senga onto the periphery of the trade market, but those same factors also make him an incredibly tricky asset on which to find common ground with another club.
Poll: Should The Mets Trade Kodai Senga?
After missing the playoffs this year, the Mets are poised to aggressively shake up their pitching staff this winter. Their starters posted a 4.13 ERA this year, good for just 18th in baseball, and that’s in part due to the cautious approach they took to building their staff last year.
After spending a massive amount to lure Juan Soto to Queens, president of baseball operations David Stearns seemed reluctant to engage the top free agent starters too aggressively and wound up focusing on mid-level and bounceback arms instead. Clay Holmes converted from the bullpen to the rotation, New York took a flier on Frankie Montas after a weak 2024, and the big addition was a reunion with Sean Manaea. The strategy did not work out. Holmes did fine, turning in a solid mid-rotation performance, but Montas barely pitched and turned in atrocious results when he did, while Manaea was limited to just 15 appearances and was moved to the bullpen late in the year amid his own struggles.
On paper, the Mets head into the offseason with a full rotation for 2026: Holmes, Manaea, and right-hander Kodai Senga are all under contract, and controllable arms like David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat give the team more than enough arms to fill out a rotation. McLean is widely viewed as a front-of-the-rotation caliber arm, but relying on him to be an ace after just eight MLB starts would be risky. Tong and Sproat are even less established with lower ceilings, and each of Holmes, Manaea, and Peterson fit better in the middle to back of a team’s rotation.
Aside from McLean, Senga has the highest ceiling of all the club’s starting pitching options. In 52 starts with the Mets over the past three years, he’s pitched to a 3.00 ERA and a 3.82 FIP with a 26.8% strikeout rate. Those are generally quite impressive numbers, and on paper it might seem like the Mets can count on McLean and Senga as a potential front-of-the-rotation duo for next year.
That only appears to be the case on paper, however. After a strong rookie season in the majors, Senga missed all but one start in 2024 due to shoulder and calf issues. He returned to the mound in 2025 and looked like his old self early on, with a 1.47 ERA and 3.24 FIP across 73 2/3 innings of work through mid-June. He missed a month due to a hamstring strain that brought that stretch to an end, however, and when he returned he looked like a shell of himself. He pitched to a 5.90 ERA with a 5.76 FIP across his final nine appearances of the year, struck out just 20.6% of his opponents, and walked 12.7%. He pitched into the sixth inning just once in that time, and failed to finish the fifth inning in six of those starts.
Things got bad enough for Senga that he was optioned to Triple-A in early September, a move that he consented to. Even at the club’s Syracuse affiliate, he struggled to a 4.66 ERA across two starts before his season came to a close in mid-September. Last month, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo indicated that the Mets don’t know what to expect from Senga in 2026. Even if they had made the playoffs, Senga would’ve only been activated to the playoff roster if the club suffered multiple injuries to the rotation. It’s harder to know if a pitcher who will be 33 in January will bounce back than it would be for a younger arm, as well. Stearns’s postseason words on Senga weren’t exactly a vote of confidence, either:
“Kodai has had two very inconsistent, challenging years in a row,” Stearns said, as relayed by DiComo. “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 look, can we put him in ink as making 30 starts next year? I think that would be foolish.”
So, with more starting pitchers than they have spots for and a desire to bring in more surefire options, would the Mets entertain a trade for Senga? It’s possible that a change of scenery could make sense for both sides. Senga could prefer to get a fresh start in 2026 with a club that can offer him a more reliable rotation spot than the Mets might be able to, and New York might see a trade as a way to bolster their pipeline of young talent during an offseason where they might look to get aggressive on the trade market to improve the rotation.
The Mets haven’t been a team concerned with posting sky-high payrolls under Steve Cohen, but if they do have a desire to cut payroll to a less extreme level this winter, then parting with a $15MM hit in luxury tax dollars could be attractive as well. On the other hand, Senga’s potential would be hard to part with. He’s clearly shown himself capable of being a front-of-the-rotation caliber arm as recently as the first half of this season. If the right-hander manages to get back on track elsewhere, it would be a tough pill for the Mets to swallow.
While Senga’s deep struggles and uncertain future might make the Mets willing to listen to offers on Senga, his potential might lead them to keep the asking price for his services quite high. Perhaps there’s a deal to be worked out with a team willing to bet on Senga and surrender a controllable position player at an area of need for the Mets, like first base or center field. The Red Sox stand out as one intriguing fit given Triston Casas‘s own uncertain future and high upside, not to mention the rumblings that have connected Boston to Mets slugger Pete Alonso in free agency.
How do MLBTR readers think the Mets will approach Senga this offseason? Will they look to keep him in the fold, even as he approaches his mid-30s with no guarantees he’ll bounce back? Or could they look to move him this winter to bolster the roster in other areas and avoid that risk? Have your say in the poll below:
Will The Mets Consider A Kodai Senga Trade This Winter?
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The Mets will listen to offers for Senga, but only trade him if they get a strong return. 61% (2,838)
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The Mets will look for a change of scenery for Senga to free up playing time in the rotation for other arms. 22% (1,040)
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The Mets won't listen to offers and Senga will be in Queens for 2026. 17% (786)
Total votes: 4,664
MLBTR Podcast: The Struggling Mets, Bryce Eldridge, And Trey Yesavage
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…
- The Mets moving Sean Manaea to the bullpen and optioning Kodai Senga (1:50)
- The Diamondbacks, Reds and Giants, who are trying to chase down the Mets (13:40)
- The Giants promoting Bryce Eldridge (19:40)
- The Blue Jays promoting Trey Yesavage (25:30)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Will the Astros trade Christian Walker in the offseason and move Isaac Paredes over to first base? (38:45)
- Will the Braves make any shocking trades of their core this offseason? (47:40)
- Will the Red Sox nab a postseason spot and can they make a deep postseason run? (55:00)
Check out our past episodes!
- Talking Mariners With Jerry Dipoto – listen here
- A Conversation With Pirates GM Ben Cherington — Also The O’s, Zack Wheeler, And The Rangers – listen here
- The Pohlads Aren’t Selling The Twins, Nathaniel Lowe, And Service Time Manipulation – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Benny Sieu, Imagn Images