The key to success for the Mets rotation

Plus, Jonah Tong made a decision about the World Baseball Classic

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

• RHP Jonah Tong confirmed that he will not be pitching for Team Canada during the World Baseball Classic (Sportsnet)

• SNY released its broadcast schedule for spring training (SNY)

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Roster Moves 📰

• Signed RHP Craig Kimbrel to a minor league deal, invited to major league spring training

• Signed C Austin Barnes to a minor league deal, invited to major league spring training

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What I’m Reading 📰

• 3B Bo Bichette could benefit greatly from batting behind Juan Soto (MLB.com)

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What I’m Watching 📺

• SNY analyst Jerry Blevins does not believe the Mets need to tweak Jonah Tong’s pitch repertoire (YouTube)

• Do the Mets need another veteran outfielder to compliment Carson Benge? (SNY)

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🌴 12 days until Mets pitchers and catchers officially report to Port St. Lucie… 🌴

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Kodai Senga could be the key to the Mets rotation ✍️

New York Post

Happy Birthday, Kodai Senga!

Today, the righty turns 33 years old, and this year he is looking to put his age 32 season behind him.

Last season was a bit of a lost year for him, both due to injury and underperformance. It was a second straight year where Senga dealt with a leg injury, which all started with the arm injury he sustained during Spring Training in 2024, which led to him making just one regular season start for the Mets that year.

Before his hamstring injury on June 12, he looked every bit the ace that the team needed. He was 7-3 with an outstanding 1.47 ERA, and the only concern was that he was not pitching deep into games, which put a strain on the bullpen. When he returned to the mound a month later, he did not look like the same pitcher from earlier in the season. He went 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA and was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse, where he continued to struggle and did not return to the big leagues.

His absence and underperformance helped lead to the Mets being forced to rely on Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Brandon Sproat down the stretch, the latter two having been arguably called up to the big leagues prematurely out of desperation.

Whether it was the injuries or the league making adjustments to his ghost fork, it was a disappointing year for Senga. And his injury seemed to cause a chain reaction for the rest of the rotation, which followed suit and crumbled from there as a unit.

But it is a new year, and in a recent interview, GM David Stearns said Senga has already been working out with the Mets staff, he’s having a normal ramp-up this winter, and they have liked what they have seen so far.

A new and improved Senga would be a welcome development for the team and the rotation. But what does that mean, exactly?

New York Post

It means the Mets obviously need Senga to stay healthy. They need to find a way to keep his legs calibrated while also getting competitive and an appropriate number of innings out of him in each start. But it also means the Mets will need Senga to be a little more adaptable than he has been in the first three years of his big league career. The club has done everything possible to allow Senga to stay in his one-out-per-week schedule, attempted to build a rotation around him, and yet he has still gotten hurt and not pitched a lot over the last two years. Between the routines, injuries, mechanical issues, general comfort problems, and simply not being out there very much, Senga has been a lot to maintain, and the Mets need him to meet them halfway now.

There was some buzz the Mets were looking to move Senga earlier this winter, but he expressed to them a desire to stay, and I think it’s always encouraging to learn a player wants to be with your team. That could signal a willingness or a desire to be more of what the Mets want and need him to be in the last two seasons of his contract.

With the addition of Freddy Peralta and the emergence of Nolan McLean, the top of the rotation is in good shape, but the rest of the rotation is a bit of a question mark. Clay Holmes is still settling in as a starter, Sean Manaea and David Peterson both struggled last season, although Peterson seemed to hit a wall in the second half of the season. Jonah Tong might not be ready for the big leagues, and Christian Scott is coming back from Tommy John surgery and, as we all know by now, that first year back from TJS is a trial.

The Mets could theoretically add another arm to the rotation (which doe not seem likely at this point, for what it’s worth), but the glue to all of this remains Senga no matter what and his ability to stay on the field productively.

So, if Senga can recapture his past success, and even be 75% of what he was, that would go a long way in bringing back some stability to the rotation, which remains the club’s biggest question mark heading into Spring Training.

In fact, it could make the top of the rotation in particular downright fearsome.

There’s a lot that needs to happen for that to be a reality, but the big piece of it is Senga becoming a productive and present member of the team again.

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Around the League 🚩

• NBC is close to hiring Clayton Kershaw as a studio analyst to join its baseball coverage this season (Front Office Sports)

• NBC also hired Joey Votto to join its MLB coverage (Front Office Sports)

• The Nationals claimed former Met LHP Richard Lovelady off waivers (MLB.com)

• Yankees GM Brian Cashman still thinks the Yankees can compete for a championship despite a quiet offseason (ESPN)