Mets still interested in Kodai Senga

Dec 5, 2022 - 11:55 PM

Having agreed to a two-year deal with Justin Verlander today, the Mets are still interested in 29-year-old Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga, per Jon Morosi, who notes that the team isn’t “close to done with rotation upgrades.”

In 148.0 innings in Japan this year, Senga had a 1.89 ERA with 159 strikeouts and 50 walks. The Mets were already known to have met with the right-handed pitcher in mid-November.

With Verlander in the fold, the Mets’ rotation figures to look something like this at the moment:

1. Justin Verlander
2. Max Scherzer
3. Carlos Carrasco
4. David Peterson
5. Tylor Megill/Elieser Hernández

Considering Mets owner Steve Cohen’s substantial wealth, adding better starting pitchers to bump Carrasco down in the rotation and upgrade from the trio of fourth-or-fifth starters currently in the fold makes a lot of sense. There is risk with Senga, of course, but he certainly seems like a viable upgrade.