After taking over as the closer the last two months, Kodai Senga proved to the Mets that he can pitch out of the bullpen, something that was completely foreign to him until this year.
The right-hander had some bumps along the way, of course, but for the most part Senga was a reliable arm as a reliever and went 8-for-9 on save opportunities, including shutting the door on Tuesday night in New York’s 6-3 win over the Texas Rangers.
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However, with Devin Williams reinstated from the IL, Senga’s role on the team is now in a bit of limbo.
Manager Andy Green expressed his appreciation for what Senga has been able to do out of the bullpen, but when asked whether the Mets view him as a starter or a reliever for next year’s team, Green couldn’t say.
“We will make the determination based on what we feel is best for the team and where he fits best,” the skipper said. “That’s impossible to answer at this moment. We’ve gotten a good look at him in this role and he’s done a lot of really good things and we’re excited about the possibility of that, but you can flip the calendar back just a few years ago before he had a hamstring issue or a leg issue and he was one of the most interesting starters in baseball and doing some really good things and obviously had an unbelievable rookie season.
“So he’s got a lot to hang his hat on in that regard. I think there’s a real decision point there and it’s not one we’re ready to make today.”
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Before Senga’s tumultuous 2026 season as a starter, he was 20-13 with a 3.00 ERA in 52 starts across three seasons for New York. He even placed second in the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year voting after successfully making the transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
Since then, injuries have been a major factor in his career before he completely fell off this year while pitching to a 9.66 ERA in eight starts and going 0-7. But after Williams went down with a right shoulder strain in early August, the Mets made the bold decision to make Senga the new closer.
Senga quickly took to his new job and got the save in his first seven opportunities and pitched to a 1.74 ERA in August. Aside from a rough outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 20 (in a non-save opportunity), Senga has been rock solid at the backend of the bullpen.
“I think we have an idea of how he fits in the pen now, which is really, really helpful,” Green said.
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However, with so much uncertainty surrounding the team in the ways it can go after a disastrous season, the Mets aren’t ruling anything out just yet.
“We don’t know the depth of our rotation going into ’27 right now,” Green said. “There’s a free agency period, there’s a lot of uncertainty that could unfold in the offseason and he’ll fit into the spot that he fits the best for us because that’s how we should move forward at this point in time.
“And we won’t be able to know that until we know what we sign, what we bring in, where we’re at and that’ll make the picture clearer and we’ll figure out where the puzzle piece fits the best.”
If it were up to Senga, who will be entering the final year of his five-year, $75 million contract he signed before the 2023 season next year, he would choose being a starter – the only thing he had ever known before this year.
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“I think he has been really good expressing to us his passion resides in the rotation,” Green said.
Of course, a starting pitcher is also more valuable than a reliever, especially one that isn’t a closer, as Williams is signed through the next two seasons and figures to remain in that role. Still, it’s hard to get over how badly Senga struggled in the rotation despite all the chances in the world to figure it out.
For what it’s worth, though, the manager mentioned that he and the Mets will take into account what Senga wants. The 33-year-old has earned that. But at the end of the day, it’s their call.
“Somebody who has accomplished what he’s accomplished in his career, the type of teammate he’s been, that matters a lot to us,” Green said. “It will not be the ultimate determining factor, but it will have weight and we’ll value it accordingly.”
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