NEW YORK — In the closing days of the 2025 season, the man famous for his ghost fork followed the Mets like a specter.
Kodai Senga, whom the Mets had demoted to Triple-A Syracuse earlier in September, returned to be around the team during its final three games in Miami. The Mets did not activate him, nor did they intend to. According to a person briefed on the situation, the Mets simply wanted Senga to stay ready in case they made the playoffs and suffered multiple rotation injuries. At that point, team officials would have debated whether to call up Senga, Justin Hagenman or Brandon Waddell.
Compare that situation to the same timeframe in 2023, when Senga was making his five-year, $75 million contract look like a steal. He was a National League All-Star who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting.
The next season, Senga made just one start amidst a raft of injuries. He returned for the playoffs but wasn’t himself, allowing seven runs in five innings.
This year, Senga again started strong despite the Mets’ cautious approach to him in Spring Training. But a hamstring injury in mid-June upended his summer, tossing Senga back into a spiral of rehab starts and mechanical inconsistencies. Before that muscle pull, Senga held a 1.47 ERA in 13 starts. After it, he produced a 5.90 ERA in nine starts, earning a Minor League demotion while putting both his short- and long-term futures in doubt.
“I think it comes down to my body,” Senga said through an interpreter following the season’s final game. “I wasn’t able to control my body the way I wanted to for that injury, and unfortunately, that showed up on the results on-field, too. Very disappointing that I wasn’t able to contribute in that last month or so.”
Senga, who has two years and $30 million left on his contract, has thrown just 118 2/3 innings over the last two seasons combined. The Mets no longer appear fully committed to him — not with Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, Jonah Tong, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson all under contract, and the club potentially set to add more help this winter.
“Kodai has had two very inconsistent, challenging years in a row,” was how president of baseball operations David Stearns summed up the situation. “We know it’s in there. We know there’s potential. We’re going to do everything we can to help get it out of him. But look, can we put him in ink as making 30 starts next year? I think that would be foolish.”
So which version of Senga is real? The one that has produced a 3.00 ERA over 52 Major League starts, striking out more than 10 batters per nine innings? Or the one that has exasperated team officials with endless rehab stints and mechanical tweaks?
Given Senga’s contract situation, the Mets have little choice but to continue hoping for the former version to re-emerge. Regardless of what the team does this winter, Senga should be able to pitch his way back into the rotation if he’s performing well. But that’s a big “if” for a soon-to-be-33-year-old who said his body “changed” after his hamstring injury, adding: “After you come back from injury, you’re not the exact same as you were before.”
For now, the reality is that the Mets can no longer count on Senga without reservation. That doesn’t mean there’s no belief — or at least hope — that Senga can help.
“If I can make the most of the time I have in the offseason,” Senga said, “I can come back strong.”
All the Mets can do at this point is work with him, hope and wait.
