Mets’ Kodai Senga shut down from throwing, but it’s not all bad

While the Mets are all but surely out of the NL East race, they are very much alive in the Wild Card hunt.

But what does that really mean?

New York is clearly not a good team. It got off to a solid 12-8 start, but it has gone just 9-20 since then. More recently, the Mets have gone 3-10 over their last 13 games. They rank in the bottom half of the league in all major offensive categories, and they are just 17th in ERA.

One thing New York fans need to keep in mind is that this was never really supposed to be a contending year for the Mets. It was clearly a transitional season, and when you looked at the roster heading into 2024, it was blatantly obvious that the team was not a legitimate contender.

For that reason, New York should absolutely bide its time with Senga and ensure that he is absolutely 100 percent healthy before even considering allowing him back on the field.

The Mets seem more likely to become trade deadline sellers than buyers at the rate they are going, so why push Senga to return when it’s very clear that the club is not going to be making any serious push to contend?

Senga signed with New York in December 2022 and enjoyed a spectacular debut campaign last season, going 12-7 with 2.98 ERA. Over 166.1 innings of work, he allowed 126 hits while registering 202 strikeouts. He did struggle with his control, however, walking 77 batters and throwing a league-worst 14 wild pitches. That resulted in a rather disappointing 2.62 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Still, there is no doubting that the 31-year-old has great stuff, and he should be a key member of the Mets’ rotation moving forward.

I know it’s only May, but by now, we have a general idea of which baseball teams are good and which aren’t. New York falls into the latter category.

The Mets should be looking toward 2025 and beyond at this point and should keep that in mind when it comes to Senga’s return, especially after his latest setback.