Mets Will Add Japan’s Kodai Senga on 5-Year, $75 Million Deal

“So he’s a good one. We’ve talked with him. And he’s impressive. You can see why they think so highly of him. I enjoyed our little talk with him.”

Senga threw a no-hitter in 2019 for the Hawks and also pitched for Japan in the 2020 Olympics, working a scoreless sixth inning in relief in the gold medal game as Japan beat the United States, 2-0.

The chief concern for Senga will be his durability. He was sidelined for most of 2014 with a shoulder injury and has had elbow soreness periodically since. Partly because of that, he has thrown more than 150 innings in a season only twice in 11 seasons. His 144 innings pitched in 2022 were the most he had thrown since 2017.

Showalter likened the routine change from Japan to M.L.B. to that of a “Friday night pitcher” in college baseball. “They’re pitching maybe once a week,” he said. “All of a sudden you’re asked to post up every fifth day. Now, they’re throwing 140, 150 pitches in that once-a-week thing, so can you shorten them up at 90 and 100 and have them pitch every fifth day? And OK, what if you’re wrong? That’s the thing you’re always considering.”

Any doubts did not dissuade the Mets from continuing their spending spree this month, during which they have committed $359 million to five free agents: Senga, Verlander (two years, $86.6 million), Nimmo (eight years, $162 million), the left-hander José Quintana (two years, $26 million) and reliever David Robertson (one year, $10 million). The Mets also extended Díaz (five years, $102 million) on the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/sports/baseball/kodai-senga-mets.html