The New York Mets have been a busy team in the offseason. New York’s flurry of activity continued on Saturday night, with the reported signing of Kodai Senga, a right-handed pitcher from Japan.
Andy Martino of SNY reported the news of Senga signing with the Mets.
Also signing him.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 11, 2022
Baseball observers couldn’t help but comment on the Mets making yet another big move in free agency.
The Mets went after Senga hard. No guarantee, but they view him as a guy with a ton of upside.
Impossible to be more all-in than the Mets are right now. https://t.co/Io6KhU36up
— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) December 11, 2022
Mets are spendin a billion https://t.co/TvKo9IJdZF
— JoezMcfly🇩🇴 (@JoezMcfLy) December 11, 2022
The Mets are just building the entire roster this week https://t.co/3q81r1Fthg
— Ryan Finkelstein (@FinkelsteinRyan) December 11, 2022
Who are the Mets *not* signing at this point? https://t.co/g0GlJ0wGQi
— Randy Wilkins (@pamsson) December 11, 2022
https://t.co/pJsMOfKIp8 pic.twitter.com/FSRjYNtrAi
— Tim Reilly (@LifeOfTimReilly) December 11, 2022
Steve Cohen just doesn’t care 😂 https://t.co/Lzm1FglX3N
— Scott Thompson (@ScottieTSports) December 11, 2022
Signing Senga is the latest splash that the Mets have made over a relatively short period of time.
So far this offseason the Mets have signed:
Nimmo: $162M
Verlander: $86.6M
Quintana: $26M
Robertson: $10M$284.6M. Senga will probably push this close to $400M. https://t.co/0kh4ZgndLr
— Brandon Wile (@Brandon_N_Wile) December 11, 2022
Martino later reported that the deal is worth $75 million over five years.
Senga broke in with Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball in 2012 and remained with that team through 2022, when he decided to try his luck in Major League Baseball. He’s consistently been one of Japan’s best pitchers. He has a career record of 104-51 with an ERA of 2.42, 1.096 WHIP and has averaged 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
If there’s a concern to be had with Senga, it’s his age. He’ll turn 30 in January. That said, in 2022, he had one of his best seasons, going 11-6 with a 1.89 ERA, 1.041 WHIP and a 9.7 K/9 rate. So, if Senga is beginning to slow down, it hasn’t shown in his most recent performances.
These busy offseason should help a team that was already one of baseball’s best in 2022. While both the regular season and postseason ended bitterly, the Mets are coming off of a 100-win season. And while they did lose Jacob deGrom, his role on that team was minimal. He made only 11 starts and was inconsistent in those.
Of course, spending is only part of the equation. The players now need to go out and perform. But New York’s front office is certainly giving the team as good a chance as it possibly can.
[Andy Martino on Twitter]
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