The New York Mets are clinging onto the final wild card spot in the National League with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds lurking close behind and fewer than 10 games remaining.
The Mets are hardly a lock for the postseason, but they will enjoy a series against the lowly Washington Nationals next, followed by one against a Chicago Cubs team that has already clinched a playoff berth and then the middling Miami Marlins.
As they look to take care of business and maintain their playoff standing, the Mets will soon start to plan out a playoff roster. And Josue De Jesus of Rising Apple predicted that would mean ditching former ace Kodai Senga after his latest setback.
“Ultimately, this 13-man pitching staff would be built on the principles of flexibility and depth,” De Jesus wrote of his projected Mets’ playoff pitching roster, which would see Senga left out of October after a brutal showing in the minor leagues. “By embracing creativity and maximizing the talent on their roster, the Mets can put themselves in a strong position to make a deep run in October.”
In place of Senga, De Jesus predicted the Mets would carry starters Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, Jonah Tong and David Peterson. That would be the rotation as currently constructed, but would mean that Senga never gets called back up after being relegated to the minors to figure out his mechanics.
The team had some hope of bringing Senga back for a playoff run, but his latest Triple-A outing might have ruled out any chance of that. Senga pitched just three and two-thirds innings and allowed six hits, four earned runs and two walks on 81 pitches. It’s a surprising low for a former All-Star who is in just the third year of a five-year, $75 million deal.
Whatever Senga is going through, it doesn’t seem like he’d be ready to perform in a high stakes moment against big-league hitters. And if that’s the case, the Mets will have no choice but to leave him off the roster if they earn an October bid.