What Should the Mets Do with Senga & Manaea?

You’d expect the 30-something-year-old veterans at the top of the rotation to be dependable and the rookies to be finding their way.

But Sean Manaea was hit hard (3 2/3 innings, five runs, eight hits) Monday in Detroit a day after Kodai Senga gave up five runs of his own in a loss to the Marlins. The pair both returned from injury in July but neither have returned to form.

“I have high expectations of myself,” Manaea said after his ERA ballooned to 5.60. “I know this organization does. Everyone’s pulling their weight. Everyone’s doing their thing. And then, I’m just not. It’s very, very, very frustrating. I wish I had an answer for it, but I don’t. But you know, I’ll figure it out.”

Manaea and the Mets don’t have a ton of time to work things out, with 24 games to go and a four-game lead over the Reds for the final Wild Card spot. A three-game series at Cincinnati looms large this weekend. (The Giants, by the way, have won eight of 10 to close within five games of New York. The Mets are also just two games behind the Padres for the second Wild Card spot with a series upcoming with them, too.)

“They’re part of the rotation so our job is to try to find a way to help them,” manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters. “That’s what we’ll do and then we’ll go from there.”

Is There A Solution to their Senga and Manaea Problem?

The Mets have options. For now, they are employing a six-man rotation so they could drop one and go to five. They could pull both. Tylor Megill is close to a return from an elbow sprain. Brandon Sproat, who threw seven scoreless innings in his last start for Triple-A Syracuse, would love to join his former minor-league teammates.

Nolan McLean (3-0, 0.89 ERA) and Jonah Tong (1-0, 1.80 ERA) have won all four of their starts and at the moment may inspire the most confidence among the starters. David Peterson pitched to a 6.68 ERA in August and converted reliever Clay Holmes has more than doubled his previous career high in innings pitched, though he did pitch to a serviceable 4.32 ERA last month.

Mendoza left Senga’s status up in the air, saying after Sunday’s game that “we’ll see what’s next for him.”

“I mean, we’ve been trying to fix him for quite a bit now,” Mendoza said. “Whether it’s the mechanics, he says he feels fine physically, but we’re not seeing results. He’s having a hard time competing in the strike zone. I know Hef (pitching coach Jeremy Hefner) and the pitching department is looking deep into a lot of different things here to try to help him and get some feedback from him. But again, we haven’t been able to get there.”

Senga was leading the National League in ERA (1.47 over 73 2/3 innings) when he strained his right hamstring covering first base on June 12. His ERA in 39 2/3 innings since his return is 5.90. He gave up four homers before the injury and eight in a little more than half as many innings afterward.

“To be honest, there’s definitely some frustration,” Senga said Sunday through an interpreter. “I’ve never experienced something like this for this extended period of time. There’s some confusion why am I not able to perform, but at the same time when I’m able to prepare well and I’m able to do what I’m capable of out there I know that I’m able to put up a good performance.

“There are some parts of my body that aren’t moving the way I want it to. At the same time I’m out there and I’m competing so it’s a fine line and it’s tough for me because I’m out there but I’m not able to perform.”

Mendoza said Manaea is having a hard time throwing his fastball up in the strike zone. The lefty was asked why that is and was at a loss, shaking his head and offering: “Um … I mean there’s … I have no idea. Um, yeah I mean I don’t know, I have no idea. I feel like I’m doing all the right things, but it’s just not working out right now.”

Coming down the home stretch, the Mets can’t continue letting starters pitch to these results. The 2024 season was highlighted by quick decisions by the front office to make changes when the team wasn’t performing well. But their top two starters weren’t the ones struggling. If the Mets need to move Senga and Manaea to the bullpen for the final couple weeks of the season, it’s worth exploring.

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