BALTIMORE — When Mets officials reported to Spring Training in February, they envisioned a starting rotation of Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Frankie Montas. It will have taken the entire first half of the season to reach that point, but the team is finally about to get there.
Both Manaea and Senga are set to rejoin the Mets’ rotation this weekend, making that group largely whole after months of injuries dating to the early days of spring.
Manaea completed his final rehab start Tuesday for Triple-A Syracuse, stretching out to 73 pitches over 3 2/3 innings against Lehigh Valley. He allowed three runs, striking out five and walking one.
As long as Manaea recovers from that start without issue, he will pitch Sunday in Kansas City in the final game before the All-Star break. Because the Mets don’t want Holmes to go too long between starts, he will also appear in that game. The Mets have yet to determine who will start and who will throw in relief.
Senga, who is recovering from a strained right hamstring, is also confirmed to come off the injured list Friday and start against the Royals. Senga made a single rehab start Saturday for Double-A Binghamton, allowing four runs (three earned) over 3 2/3 innings. Though the Mets will have Senga on a pitch count after he threw just 68 in that rehab start, he should be able to throw 80-plus pitches without issue.
All told, Senga will have missed almost exactly one month. It has been a longer return to play for Manaea, who strained his right oblique muscle in Spring Training, suffered a setback early in his rehab, then required another shutdown when doctors identified a loose body in his pitching elbow. But Manaea has proven his health over six rehab starts, the last two of those coming after his elbow diagnosis.
“Definitely very encouraging,” Manaea said last week.
Two other Mets starters, Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn, are playing catch but aren’t due back imminently. Blackburn, who produced a 7.71 ERA in six appearances before going on the IL with a right shoulder impingement, may not be part of the team’s future rotation plans if healthy.
Megill might be, but he’s even further from a return. The Mets on Tuesday transferred Megill to the 60-day IL, ensuring he won’t be back until at least mid-August. It’s impossible to project what New York’s pitching needs will be at that point.
“It’s just where he’s at in his progression,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the decision to transfer Megill, who sprained his right elbow in mid-June. “He wasn’t going to be back any earlier. He’s still throwing. He’s going to go through the progression, and then we will continue to build him up.”
