For the second straight September, the New York Mets are hoping for a star to return to their bullpen.
Ace Kodai Senga, who’s started one game all season, is open to returning as a reliever by the end of the regular season. Senga has been out since late July with a high-grade calf strain, and he is not eligible to come off the 60-day inured list until Sept. 25, when there would be five games left in the season. He had missed the first several months of the season with a shoulder injury. The Athletic had previously reported that the Mets were cautiously optimistic about a Senga return in the regular season.
“I’m open to anything,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “I just want to throw as many innings as possible. So I just need to get to that point, be able to throw at 100 percent and contribute to the team.”
“We’d be open to anything, as long as he’s feeling well,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “The biggest thing is we’ve got to get him back, feeling 100 percent, and healthy and ready to go and somehow able to help us win baseball games. If he’s 100 percent, he will.”
Last September, the Mets contemplated a late-season return for Edwin Díaz after knee surgery in the spring. Had the team been in a postseason race, Díaz very well may have been a factor down the stretch. With the team out of it, however, New York opted for caution and held Díaz out until this spring — a decision Díaz thought allowed him to be better prepared for 2024.
“I was ready. I was feeling great,” Díaz said back in the spring. “But the team wasn’t playing good baseball, and we couldn’t make the playoffs, so the team backed off a little bit more. That was good for me. I got a full year to get ready for 2024.”
Senga was clear on Monday that he would need to feel at full strength to proceed with a return. He estimated he feels about 50 percent at the moment.
“I need to be 100 percent to contribute to the team and pitch at the highest level,” he said.
Unlike last year, the Mets are in the thick of a postseason race. They entered play Monday a game out of the National League wild card. And their bullpen could sure use a pitcher like Senga. New York has struggled all season to build a reliable bridge to Díaz, who has endured more slumps than he had back in his last healthy season in 2022.
At the same time, Senga is likely under team control through 2027, and the Mets would not want to jeopardize the longer-term health of their best starting pitcher. The right-hander can opt out of his deal following the 2025 season if he reaches 400 career major-league innings by that point. His two injuries have limited him to 5 1/3 innings this season, and he would need to throw 228 1/3 innings between now and the end of next season to opt-out.
“We’ve still got to take it slow and be smart about it,” Mendoza said. “But it’s good he’s where he’s at right now.”
— The Athletic’s Andy McCullough contributed to this report.
(Photo of Kodai Senga: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)
