Kodai Senga Demoted to Mets Bullpen After Brutal Outing, Carlos Mendoza’s Patience Runs Out
Kodai Senga’s run in the Mets rotation is over. After a third disastrous start in a row, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Senga is moving to the bullpen, and he did not soften the message.
The line that set the tone, per reporters in the clubhouse: “Performance matters here. Having outings like this is not going to cut it. We need better.”
For Mendoza, normally one of the more measured voices in baseball, that qualifies as a public scolding.
The numbers behind the decision are ugly. Senga gave up seven runs across 3.2 innings on Tuesday night in a 9-6 loss to the Cubs that dropped the Mets to 34-44. The Cubs put up five runs in the second inning alone, including a three-run homer from Pete Crow-Armstrong. Senga’s season ERA is 10.08 across seven starts. That is not a bad stretch. That is a player who has lost the strike zone, the velocity, and the trust of his coaching staff.
The Senga the Mets signed two years ago no longer exists. The ghost forkball that fooled big leaguers in 2023 is now a pitch hitters are sitting on. His fastball command has slipped, and the velocity is down from the 96-97 range to a more pedestrian 93-94. When the fastball loses life, the secondary stuff plays as average.
The Mets are a 34-44 team in late June. That is not a team that can carry a 10 ERA starter every fifth day while the bullpen tries to bail out the offense. The math forced Mendoza’s hand.
The bullpen demotion is the polite way to put a starter on notice. It tells Senga, his teammates, and the front office that the rotation belongs to pitchers who execute. If Senga finds something in low-leverage relief work, there is a path back. If he does not, the Mets have to start having difficult conversations about a designation for assignment, which would cost them money but at least clear the spot.
This was also a moment about Mendoza’s own job. The Mets are sliding fast in the NL East, Juan Soto walked out of Tuesday’s game with a back injury that nobody is calling minor, and the rotation is held together with bubble gum. A manager who lets a 10 ERA pitcher take the mound week after week is a manager who loses the room.
Mendoza did not lose the room. He sent a public message that the standards are real and that the names on the back of the jersey do not exempt anybody.
The Senga contract has two years left after this one. The Mets are not eating that paper unless he completely falls apart. The hope is that the bullpen reset gets him back to attacking the zone with the fastball and using the forkball as a finisher, not a hope pitch.
The reality is the Mets need somebody else to step up in the rotation. David Peterson, Sean Manaea, and Clay Holmes have been carrying water. Whoever takes Senga’s start next has to do more than not implode. They have to win.
Senga’s career is not finished. His night in the Mets’ rotation, for now, is.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
