Mets’ Kodai Senga addresses recovery setback

The New York Mets raised eyebrows when they revealed that ace Kodai Senga had essentially paused his rehab progress due to reasons related to "his mechanics." 

Senga addressed the matter while speaking with reporters through a translator ahead of New York's 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night. 

"The reason why I ended up getting hurt was partially due to mechanics," Senga said about the moderate capsule strain in the back of his right shoulder that's prevented him from making his season debut, as shared by John Flanigan of SNY. "With my current mechanics, I didn’t think that I’d be able to come back at 100 percent. So I’m taking some time to make sure everything is perfect before I get back into game action so that when I can come back I am stronger than ever." 

Senga was set to be New York's No. 1 starter after the club failed to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto now of the Los Angeles Dodgers in free agency. The Mets traded both Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer last summer and then replaced neither with a proven ace ahead of spring training. 

"We’ll see how I feel in my next bullpen," Senga said about a potential timeline for when he could return to the rotation, per Manny Gómez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com "If all goes well, it could come sooner than later. But it’s really up in the air."

On Monday night, MLB insider Andy Martino of SNY reported that "sources on both sides say that there is no issue between Senga and the team, and that the rehab is on track." Martino also acknowledged that "healthy pitchers do not often stop throwing to hitters."

It now seems a given that Senga won't be ready for meaningful action by the time he's eligible to be reinstated to the roster on May 27.

"We had a long conversation yesterday," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said about Senga on Monday. "I know he [told reporters] that he's throwing a bullpen in two days. But I don’t think he said that he threw one yesterday. Which he ended up throwing. So he's one of those where we will continue to evaluate here and see what we got. He's fluid. He’s flexible. We just got to listen to the player."

The Amazins fell to 19-21 ahead of Tuesday's afternoon home game against the 29-13 Phillies. The harsh truth is the 2024 Mets may not be a wild-card contender with Senga in the rotation, as they appear to be little more than a .500 club at best without him.