Mets adjust rotation to protect Kodai Senga
Chicago Cubs' Seiya Suzuki, left, and Mets pitcher Kodai Senga chat before a baseball game, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Chicago. Credit: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast
CHICAGO — The Mets’ continued extreme carefulness with Kodai Senga resulted in another tweak to the rotation this week.
He had been lined up to pitch Tuesday, but the team flipped him with Tylor Megill, who started the series opener against the Cubs instead. Senga will go Wednesday — a full week after his most recent outing.
The reason, according to manager Buck Showalter: This arrangement allows the Mets to avoid having to use Senga again Sunday on what would have been normal rest for the first time this season. It also allows him to skip playing at the Rockies’ Coors Field, which can be a nightmare for pitchers, altogether.
“It’s not like I really have a say in when I throw,” Senga said through an interpreter. “They decide and I go on that day. All I need to do is prepare to throw on that day.”
Switching Megill and Senga was the plan all along, Senga said. The Mets simply hadn’t made that public.
The Mets repeatedly have gone out of their way to give Senga, a 30-year-old righthander, extra rest between starts in his first year in the majors after pitching in Japan for more than a decade.
In Japan, his norm was one start per week. In the majors, starters usually go once every five days (also referred to as four days’ rest). But not Senga, not yet.
When will Senga get on a normal schedule for even one turn through the rotation?
“I don’t know yet. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t happen at all,” Showalter said. “We’ll continue down that path [of extra rest] and the medical people and [pitching coach] Jeremy [Hefner] will let me know if and when they think he’s ready.”
Asked if he wanted to pitch on regular rest, Senga did not express a strong opinion.
“I know that pitching on every fifth day is considered normal here, so when the time comes, when they tell me to, I need to be ready to do that,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to come to the states to play, and that comes with it — pitching on every fifth day. I just need to pitch when I’m told to pitch. That’s all.”
Pair of aces
Max Scherzer will pitch Friday against the Rockies, with Justin Verlander going on Saturday.
Because both aces started in the Mets’ doubleheader Sunday, one was going to get an extra day of rest this time around. With the split callus on Scherzer’s right thumb healing well, the Mets opted to wait on Verlander, who threw more pitches and innings in his previous turn.
Escobar acclimates
In the five weeks since the Mets called up Brett Baty to be the starting third baseman, Eduardo Escobar has been quietly excellent in a part-time role, slashing .355/.412/.710 in 14 games (34 plate appearances) entering play Tuesday.
“The biggest thing is my patience,” he said through an interpreter. “This is something I’ve been through in my career. When the manager wants me to go out there and play, that’s when I’ll be vocal. I’m not the type of person that’s going to come in here with a bad attitude because I’m not playing. At the end of the day, I’m not the one that controls the lineup. All I can do is control my effort.”
Showalter slotted Escobar into the No. 2 spot in the batting order largely because of his excellent numbers against lefthander Drew Smyly: 8-for-14 with four homers.
Extra bases
Outfielder Tim Locastro will have surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb, Showalter said. Locastro originally went on the injured list more than a month ago with what the Mets called back spasms, and while he was rehabbing he wound up hurting his thumb . . . Gary Sanchez started at catcher for the second time in four games since his promotion to the majors. Showalter said Francisco Alvarez will catch the next two games . . . Pitching against the Mets on Wednesday: Medford native and former Met Marcus Stroman. He has a 3.05 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 10 starts.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
