DALLAS — Kodai Senga’s health has been a topic of discussion for the Mets since March, and it likely will be into next March as well. After sitting out almost the entirety of the 2024 season with a shoulder injury, a calf injury and mechanical injuries, the Mets expect big things from him in 2025 but it’s clear they will take a cautious approach with their ace.
“We are not concerned as an organization about getting him back up there, as long as he feels good,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday on the second day of the Winter Meetings. “I mean, one of the main challenges this past year with Senga, even when we were getting him to a point where he was medically in good shape, he had a challenging time getting his mechanics to where he felt like he could go out and really compete. And so that’s going to be part of this process…
“We have to get not only the medical piece checked off, which I think we will be able to, but we also have to have a pitcher who feels really confident where he is from a mechanical perspective, to go out and compete and win games for us.”
Senga’s agent Joel Wolfe spoke earlier in the day and indicated the pitcher was going through a rehab progression, though he wasn’t exactly sure because he hadn’t received an updated report on the soon-to-be 32-year-old. Wolfe said he doesn’t have a reason to think Senga wouldn’t be ready for spring training, especially since he pitched in the playoffs, but he would rather wait for an updated report before talking specifics.
The Mets are in touch with Senga and believe he is healthy. They’re sending trainer Joe Golia to Tokyo to gauge his progress, which is something the team typically does when a player is coming off a season-ending injury or rehabbing one during the offseason.
“He is a healthy player who is progressing through his offseason,” Stearns said. “He has not begun to throw yet, but that’s not necessarily abnormal for Senga as he goes through his offseason. We still expect him to be a pitcher for us on Opening Day and be ready to go. And if that changes, if we get information that makes us question that, we’ll certainly pass it along.”
CONVERTING CLAY
The idea to have former Yankees reliever Clay Holmes start came from the right-hander himself. He informed his agent, B.B. Abbott, that he had a desire to start and would be open to doing so for interested teams.
The two started talking last month at the General Manager Meetings in San Antonio and the more they talked and put together plans, the more the Mets were convinced he would make a good rotation piece.
“His agent said to me, ‘You know, he has long wanted a chance to go back to starting if that’s possible.’ I said, ‘Yeah, we think that’s possible, and we’re going to do a lot more work on it,’” Stearns said. “And we did. We had multiple discussions with Clay directly about it. [Pitching coach] Jeremy Hefner talked to Clay, we had our medical staff discuss with Clay what this would look like. I think we all came away believing, you know, this is a real possibility, and we could get this player to a point where he’s going to be a very good major league starter.”
Not every team was convinced. The Toronto Blue Jays were among the suitors for the right-hander, but were honest with him about their desire to use him out of the bullpen. Holmes only throws four pitches, though his four-seam fastball was barely a part of his arsenal last year, which isn’t typically enough to keep hitters off balance three times through the order.
The Mets think he could add a changeup, a pitch he has thrown in the past, and possibly another pitch, but they think the four pitches he throws is enough with the way he’s able to command them on both sides of the plate.
“I think the usage is probably going to change a little bit,” Stearns said. “He may have to introduce some new stuff that we believe he can do. If he’s able to do that, I think we’re going to have someone who is going to be a very solid contributor in our rotation.”
MONEY IS NO OBJECT
Owner Steve Cohen has not set a budget for Stearns, but the baseball ops boss isn’t trying to spend wildly. There has to be justifications for the spending, and the Mets won’t be spending at an exorbitant rate when it doesn’t make sense to do so.
“At times, it’s probably going to make sense for us to push through, and at times it’s not,” Stearns said. “That’s going to be true every single year, but I’m confident this year, and going forward, that we are going to have plenty of resources to put good teams on the field.”
