If Kodai Senga had pitched like this all season, the Mets would have one more enticing trade chip.
Then again, if Senga had pitched like this all season, the Mets probably would not be collecting all their trade chips to offload.
Pitching in place of the scratched Freddy Peralta on Friday night, Senga reminded he is still on the team while showing off some of the best stuff he has possessed all year. In his first outing in nearly two weeks, he dominated for four innings before fading, arguably the most potent the right-hander has looked since his season-opening quality start against the Cardinals back on March 31.
Of course, the uptick in stuff arrived long after the Mets’ season unofficially ended. And the uptick in stuff still did not ultimately matter in a game in which his stat line was skewered upon leaving and in which the Mets lost, 5-2, to the Marlins at Citi Field in front of 33,064 fans who were more entertained by the superhero renderings on the scoreboard than the action on the field.
The Mets will not have Peralta after Monday. They probably will not have Clay Holmes, either. Sean Manaea, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton are near certainties to remain. Jonah Tong and Tobias Myers are on the 40-man roster with Triple-A Syracuse, and perhaps prospects Jack Wenninger and/or Jonathan Santucci could pitch their way to relevance.
There will be intrigue to see whether a rotation spot will be reserved for Senga, who lost his job following a June 23 start against the Cubs — after which his ERA was 10.08 — and was shifted to the bullpen, where he has been as invisible as his ghost forkball.
But as long as Senga is showing flashes of the All-Star he was in 2023, there will be reason to give him chances to prove the talent still can be extracted. Add in the fact Senga is due $15 million next season, and the Mets might be incentivized in August and September to learn if they can count on competence from him next year.
Friday he was better than competent. He retired the first seven Marlins batters he faced, needed just four pitches to get through the fourth inning and had the forkball working early, Xavier Edwards swinging over the top of strike three in the first inning.
After four innings in which he allowed just one base runner, Senga ran out of steam in the fifth. He walked a pair and gave up a double to Jakob Marsee that scored the first run of the game.
Xzavion Curry, called up earlier in the day, entered and surrendered a couple RBI singles that marred Senga’s line (four innings, three runs allowed on two hits and two walks with four strikeouts).
Considering the Mets scored just twice — on an A.J. Ewing single and Francisco Lindor home run — Curry after Senga would have had to be nearly perfect for the Mets (47-64) to have had a chance.
