Mets place Kodai Senga on IL, but are confident in their depth
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga talks to staff after an injury during the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals on Thursday. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns spent this past offseason constructing his rotation for depth over flash: He signed Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning to relatively short contracts, chose to retain Paul Blackburn instead of non-tendering him, and converted Holmes from reliever to starter.
Days like Friday showed the value of that philosophy.
Kodai Senga, who leads the rotation with a 1.47 ERA, landed on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, the team announced. Reliever Max Kranick was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse in a corresponding move.
Senga, who was injured covering first base on a ground ball Thursday, had an MRI on Friday afternoon to determine the severity of the injury. The righthander reached up while stepping on the base to corral a high throw from Pete Alonso in the sixth inning of what had been a one-hit shutout of the Nationals, and immediately grabbed the back of his leg, collapsing onto the grass. Senga also missed most of last season with shoulder and calf injuries.
He joins Montas (lat) and Manaea (oblique) on the IL; Blackburn, who returned from injury for a spot start against the Dodgers last week but had been earmarked for long-relief duties, will take Senga’s turn in the rotation Wednesday against Atlanta, manager Carlos Mendoza said.
“You hate to see it, especially [when] we're talking about a guy like Senga with the way he's been throwing the baseball,” Mendoza said before the Mets took on the Rays at Citi Field Friday night. “But we also feel good with the options that we’ve got currently in place. They've been doing it the whole year, and they’ll continue to do so. It's part of it, like I said, but losing Senga, obviously, is a tough one.”
Montas, who’s been struggling in his rehab assignments, started with Triple-A Syracuse on Friday and will pitch in at least another game before his 30-day rehab clock expires in a week and a half. Montas had another rough outing Friday night as he allowed eight earned runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings, striking out one and walking one. He threw 53 pitches.
Manaea, who began his rehab assignment on June 6, could return in late June or early July.
“It’s a good thing to have more major-league quality starting pitchers than less,” Stearns said Friday. “I’m frankly never concerned about having too much because as we saw last night, and as I’ve experienced throughout my career, it’s very, very rare where you get to the point where you have too many starting pitchers...
"I’m very happy with how the group that we have has pitched. I’m excited that we continue to get healthier and get guys like Frankie and ultimately Sean back in the rotation. I think that will make us stronger and ultimately deeper.”
Despite the injuries, the Mets carried an MLB-best 2.80 ERA into Friday, and a 2.79 rotational ERA, also best in baseball.
Stearns’ eye for pitching talent has been credited with some of that success, along with contributions from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel, who came over from the Yankees this offseason. Stearns also lauded bullpen coach Jose Rosado, strategy coach Danny Barnes and catching coach Glenn Sherlock for being able to “communicate with pitchers... meeting them where they are in their careers, [learning] how they want to get better and working with them to be the best versions of themselves.”
That said: “I expected us to have a good starting rotation but sure, I think a sub-three ERA probably exceeds my expectations, especially when you add on the injuries we had in camp," Stearns added. "But I also saw reason to believe that each of the guys who were in the rotation mix could and would be successful. You never know whether it’s going to work.”
That includes Blackburn, who was acquired from the A’s at last year’s trade deadline, but could have been non-tendered after a shoulder injury limited him to just five starts with the Mets in 2024. Blackburn, who hurt his knee in spring training, returned last week and pitched five scoreless innings against the Dodgers. The Mets opted to keep him stretched out, and he pitched four innings of relief last Sunday against the Rockies, allowing three runs and seven hits.
“It’s important to have guys like that,” Mendoza said. “We’ve been talking about our depth and here we are again getting tested…Injuries are a part of this game. Every team will go through it, but I feel like we’re equipped to handle it.”
Notes & quotes: Outfielder Jose Siri (broken tibia) suffered a setback after medical imaging showed that the bone had not healed as the Mets had hoped. He’ll be shut down from baseball activities for a few weeks and then be re-imaged before restarting his progression, Stearns said… Lefthander Brooks Raley (Tommy John surgery) is throwing live bullpens and if all goes well, could commence a rehab assignment sometime next week. “This is not a short rehab assignment,” Stearns said. “We’ve got to go through a full spring training ramp [up] to make sure he’s ready to go… You might be looking at the full 30 days there.”… Stearns also said that Jesse Winker (oblique) is progressing but is still multiple weeks away from a rehab assignment.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
