Kodai Senga moves to the Mets bullpen as a leverage reliever

Kodai Senga was supposed to be a rotation piece on a $75 million deal, but 2026 turned into a lost season almost from the jump. He landed on the injured list in the spring with lumbar spine inflammation, tried to work his way back, and got scratched from a rehab start with ulnar nerve discomfort that pushed his return even further out. When he finally got healthy enough to pitch, the results as a starter were ugly, and the Mets are out of patience letting him try to fix it in 5-inning outings.

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Mets Using Kodai Senga As Leverage Reliever t.co/KQyBLGOErL

So now Senga's a reliever, at least for the rest of the year. Interim manager Andy Green said the plan is to use him in one-inning stints and see if his stuff plays up late in games, leaning on his fastball and forkball instead of trying to survive a lineup three times through. He's already gotten a taste of it, throwing a scoreless inning in relief, and the early returns are exactly the kind of small sample the Mets need before they can make any real decision on him.

This isn't just a bullpen fix for Senga's numbers, either. The Mets sold at the deadline, moving out Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley and Huascar Brazoban, which opened up setup innings behind closer Devin Williams that somebody has to fill. If Senga's stuff ticks up in short bursts the way it sometimes does for failed starters, he becomes a real weapon down the stretch instead of a name on the injured-list transaction log.

There's also a bigger-picture stake here. Senga is still owed $15 million in both 2026 and 2027, and a team that's already fallen out of contention needs to figure out what he actually is before committing to him as a starter again next spring. A strong finish in relief could reshape how the Mets build their pitching staff going into next season, and it turns Senga from a forgotten name into one of the more interesting bullpen watch-alongs left in a lost year in Queens.