DALLAS — Kodai Senga’s well being has been a subject of debate for the Mets since March, and it possible shall be into subsequent March as properly. After sitting out nearly everything of the 2024 season with a shoulder damage, a calf damage and mechanical accidents, the Mets count on large issues from him in 2025 however it’s clear they are going to take a cautious strategy 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 mentioned Tuesday on the second day of the Winter Conferences. “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 within the day and indicated the pitcher was going by a rehab development, although he wasn’t precisely certain as a result of he hadn’t obtained an up to date report on the soon-to-be 32-year-old. Wolfe mentioned he doesn’t have a cause to assume Senga wouldn’t be prepared for spring coaching, particularly since he pitched within the playoffs, however he would slightly await an up to date report earlier than speaking specifics.
The Mets are in contact with Senga and consider he’s wholesome. They’re sending coach Joe Golia to Tokyo to gauge his progress, which is one thing the group usually does when a participant is coming off a season-ending damage or rehabbing one throughout the offseason.
“He is a healthy player who is progressing through his offseason,” Stearns mentioned. “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 concept to have former Yankees reliever Clay Holmes begin got here from the right-hander himself. He knowledgeable his agent, B.B. Abbott, that he had a need to begin and can be open to doing so for groups.
The 2 began speaking final month on the Common Supervisor Conferences in San Antonio and the extra they talked and put collectively plans, the extra the Mets have been satisfied he would make 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 mentioned. “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 each group was satisfied. The Toronto Blue Jays have been among the many suitors for the right-hander, however have been trustworthy with him about their need to make use of him out of the bullpen. Holmes solely throws 4 pitches, although his four-seam fastball was barely part of his arsenal final 12 months, which isn’t usually sufficient to maintain hitters off stability thrice by the order.
The Mets assume he might add a changeup, a pitch he has thrown up to now, and presumably one other pitch, however they assume the 4 pitches he throws is sufficient with the way in which he’s capable of command them on each side of the plate.
“I think the usage is probably going to change a little bit,” Stearns mentioned. “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
Proprietor Steve Cohen has not set a price range for Stearns, however the baseball ops boss isn’t attempting to spend wildly. There needs to be justifications for the spending, and the Mets received’t be spending at an exorbitant charge when it doesn’t make sense to take action.
“At times, it’s probably going to make sense for us to push through, and at times it’s not,” Stearns mentioned. “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.”
