Kodai Senga

Mets Need More From Kodai Senga

In the opening game of the four game set against the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets spotted a 5-0 for Kodai Senga. Of course, part of that was J.D. Davis‘ inability to play third extending Jeff McNeil‘s at-bat leading to a hit by pitch with his scoring on an Eduardo Escobar homer.

At 5-0 in the fourth, the game should have been all but over. At least, that is the case when you have a pitcher like Senga, or better put, a pitcher like we thought Senga was going to be.

Early on, Senga looked very good. His ghost fork has been unhittable. He wasn’t quite unhittable over the first four innings, but he looked in control of the game. That changed completely in the fifth.

Blake Sabol and LaMonte Wade Jr.. homered in the fifth. After that came back-to-back walks toThairo Estrada and Michael Conforto. Fortunately, Davis was up next and struck out for the second out of the inning. After an RBI single and wild pitch, it was suddenly 5-4.

That would be it for Senga. Five innings of work for a Mets bullpen that is getting increasingly more taxed by the day. So far, Senga has started four games for the Mets, and he has not gone beyond five innings twice.

The biggest issue with him has been the walks. He’s walking 14.9% of the batters he faces. That’s really beyond the limits of what is acceptable from a starting pitcher. The same goes for the 6.0 BB/9.

Even if Senga has the talent to limit the damage, he’s still taking himself out of games early with all the additional pitches. More walks is more base runners. In addition to it being more opportunities for the opposition to score, Senga is just not giving himself a chance to go deep into games.

More than that, this is when the Mets desperately need him to step up. José Quintana is gone until at least July. Justin Verlander has been out to start the season, and as of the moment, we don’t know when he will return. Carlos Carrasco has been shut down with elbow inflammation.

On top of that, Max Scherzer needed an extra day between starts. On top of that, he is being suspended for 10 days due to his being accused of using illegal substances in the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That means 4/5 of the current Mets rotation is what was supposed to be the Triple-A Syracuse Mets rotation. As we know, David Peterson and Tylor Megill began the year in the rotation. Now, Jose Butto and Joey Lucchesi will be in the rotation. That is the way it will be for at least two turns through the rotation.

In many ways, that makes Senga the de facto ace. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal because that’s what he was in Japan. However, with the Mets, he hasn’t looked like that. He appears to be more of a fifth starter.

To be fair, it is just four starts into his Major League career. There is every chance he figures it out and becomes much more than a fifth starter. However, life and baseball aren’t fair. The Mets need Senga to be more than that now. They need him to accelerate his acclimation to the majors. Hopefully, he can step up and do just that because the Mets need it from him.

 

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Mets Defense Great To Start 2023 Season

Bottom first, bases loaded, two outs. Kodai Senga is on the verge of getting out of a bases loaded no out jam when Jon Berti hits a tailing line drive down the line. Instead of emptying the bases, Starling Marte races over and makes the catch to end the inning.

That right there is why the New York Mets have been off to a good start to the 2023 season. In a year which is supposed to be defined by more hits as a result of the shift ban, the Mets have been playing stellar defense. That is especially true up the middle with Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil.

While we know there is far too small of a sample size to adjudge defense, we see Lindor and McNeil have been making all of the plays. In terms of McNeil, per Baseball Savant, he has an 86% success rate on fielding plays. That is a 3% success added rate on plays.

That was no more true than the play he made in Miami. After a ground ball got through Pete Alonso, McNeil responded by making the sliding catch and nailing the speedy Berti at home. That play was named the inaugural Play of the Week from MLB for the 2023 season.

This should come as no surprise for McNeil. Last season, McNeil posted a 7 OAA as a second baseman. That rated him as the second best defensive second baseman in the National League.

As good as McNeil has been, Lindor has been even better. So far this season, he has an astounding 93% success rate on plays. That gives him an impressive 8% success rate added on plays.

Prior to this season, Lindor has been a proponent of banning the shift. Part of the reason was to permit him to be the shortstop he can be. Last season, he told Sports Illustrated, “Let me do me. Let me make the crazy play. Let me be like, ‘O.K., he’s going to pull the ball. I can’t be on that side of the base.’ So as the pitch goes, I run on the other side of the base—pow!—and make the play.”

He’s already put together a number of highlights this season. There was the leaping grab to rob Jorge Soler of extra bases. There was the double play started when he went up the middle and flipped the ball to McNeil. The play everyone seems to be talking about to start the season was his going into the hole to rob Bryan De La Cruz of an RBI single.

Lindor has always been a great defender. He has already won two Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove. Since his first full season in 2016, he leads all MLB shortstops with a 117 OAA. However, so far this season, it just seems Lindor is playing at another level. In fact, we even see it on the plays he doesn’t make.

Omar Narváez threw the ball away on a Christian Yelich stolen base attempt. Lindor deked Yelich into staying at second base instead of going to third. The play saved Narváez from an error, and to this point in the season, the Mets still have not committed an error.

The defense from Lindor has been noticeable to start the season. Showalter said after the April 1 game, “He has taken his defensive game to another level. He is moving his feet really well. He is anticipating things.”

Overall, the Mets might’ve entered the season with the best up the middle infield defense in the majors. Seeing the way McNeil and Lindor have started the season, they are taking their defense to another level. We are also seeing it rub off on their teammates as they are making strong defensive plays.

As we saw in 1999, you can have a special season led by great defense. Lindor and McNeil seemed poised to make this a year just like that.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was first published on MMO.

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20/20 Hindsight: Mets Filet Marlins

The New York Mets played their opening series of the season, and they took 3/4 games. All-in-all, not a bad start to the season:

1.  The Mets defense was exceptional to start the season. Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor appear on their way to having Gold Glove caliber years, and Starling Marte might’ve made the most important play of all.

2.  Kodai Senga‘s ghost splitter was all; the more impressive in game action recording all eight strikeouts on the pitch. It’s also a good thing it really took him just one inning to fully acclimate.

3.  It took Lindor three games last season before he started hitting, and he would have a great year. Nothing to be concerned about his slow start to the season.

4.  Brandon Nimmo is back to walking a lot, which means his OBP should be through the roof this season.

5.  Justin Verlander and Jose Quintana are out, but it appears David Peterson and Tylor Megill are up to the task much like they were all of last season.

6.  Eduardo Escobar has really struggled to start the year. With the start Brett Baty is off to in Triple-A, we are going to hear the calls for him sooner rather than later.

7.  If Baty is not called up within the next week, the Mets are going to forfeit the chance to get an extra first round pick and international bonus pool money. This seems like a dubious decision to say the least.

8.  Mark Canha‘s and Tommy Pham‘s bat looked very slow to start the season, but they turned it on the last two games. At least with Sandy Alcantara and Jesus Luzardo, you still have to wonder if velocity will be an issue for Canha, but for now, he seems like he will be productive.

9.  The only Mets reliever to allow a run is John Curtiss, who was on the bubble to even make the team. For now, it seems like the Mets bullpen will be fine without Edwin Díaz.

10. Way too much was made by some people over Max Scherzer allowing three runs. He was completely dominant over the first five innings, and he had one bad inning. He will be fine and pitch like an ace again this season.

11. It seems like something that only happens to the Mets, but somehow poor defenders like Garrett Cooper and Jorge Soler looked like Keith Hernandez and Roberto Clemente in the field this past series.

12. Jeff McNeil hit a lot of balls hard right at someone. Not what you expected to see with the elimination of the shift.

13. The games did move much faster, but there is still going to be some issues to be ironed out. For example, McNeil getting assessed a strike because of Pete Alonso at first base. After the game, MLB admitted a strike should not have been assessed against McNeil.

14. Any Mets fans rejoicing in Jacob deGrom and Chris Bassitt struggling is an outright fool. First, they did nothing to the Mets. Second, it meant you enjoyed the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals offense going off. Nothing says I’m a Mets fan more than rooting for the Phillies and Cardinals.

15. We knew the bases being closer together meant not only more stolen bases but more opportunities to take an extra base. We didn’t know that meant Daniel Vogelbach going first to third and scoring on shallow sacrifice flies.

16. Jazz Chisholm Jr.was not good at all in center for the Miami Marlins. That is going to be an issue for that team all season.

17. Omar Narváez. has looked PHENOMENAL in all aspects of the game so far. If he is going to be this good, the Mets are a different level team than originally anticipated.

18. Dennis Santana might’ve been a find for the Mets.

19. Alonso was safe at first base.

20. This was a good start for the Mets. They took three out of four, and their best players haven’t quite gotten going just yet. Hopefully, this is a sign we are in for a special 2023.

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Ghost Fork Was Spooky

Entering the 2023 season, the biggest question mark in the rotation was Kodai Senga. We knew he was good based upon what he did in Japan, but how good he was going to be is ultimately what will determine how good of a rotation and by extension a team the New York Mets will be.

It may not seem this way, but the Mets have had more Japanese players in their history than any other team. Of course, as we saw with Kazuo Matsui, the Mets haven’t always had the best luck with Japanese imports. Of course, part of that was the Mets creating unrealistic expectations and flat out ignoring advice on how to help those players adapt to Major League Baseball.

Jeff Wilpon is gone, and the Mets are run completely differently under Steve Cohen. Perhaps, that is part of the reason why we did not hear any of the old anxiety related to the Mets previous failures with Japanese players. Seeing Senga on the mound for his first game, we may never hear it again.

Things did not start well for him. He allowed a hit to Luis Arraez, threw a wild pitch, and allowed an RBI double to Jorge Soler. That’s as disastrous a start to your career as you can get. One run was in without an out. Fortunately, the Mets did score two for him in the top of the first, so the lead had not evaporated.

That seemed like a technicality as he then walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Avisail Garcia to load the bases. That brought up Yuli Gurriel. Bases loaded and no outs. It was then we first saw Senga release that ghost split as a true weapon.

Senga then came back and struck out Jesus Sanchez. Again, it was that ghost fork. That Miami Marlins rally was fading as quickly as that ghost fork. Senga would need some help from his defense as Starling Marte made a great catch in right to end the inning.

The Marlins missed their only chance as they would only collect one more hit and walk against Senga in his 5 1/3 innings of work. If he had not needed to throw 36 pitches in the first innings, he might’ve gone deeper. The fact he was able to go deeper into the game is a testament to how he just flat out embarrassed the Marlins hitters who literally had no chance against that ghost fork.

Overall, Senga struck out eight, and the Mets went on to win 5-1. More than that, Senga showed us how great he could be. While it is far too early to talk about these things, perhaps he could be the ace of this staff. Yes, he and that ghost fork were that good on Sunday. We will see just how good it is the rest of the year.

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2023 MLB Predictions

With the 2023 Major League Baseball season getting underway, it is time to make some predictions for the season. Last year, well, at least the predictions for the NL side of the ledger looked a lot better than the AL side, which is exactly bragging.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL East – Toronto Blue Jays

Yes, the New York Yankees kept Aaron Judge, and Anthony Volpe will begin the year on the roster, but they already have Carlos Rodon, Luis Severino, and Frankie Montas on the IL. The Blue Jays are younger, healthier, and added some key pieces around their exciting young core. This is the year they finally break through and win the division.

AL Central – Minnesota Twins

The Chicago White Sox were disappointing last year and took a step backwards this offseason. The Guardians were a surprise, but all they did was add Josh Bell. The Twins kept Carlos Correa while doing well to add Christian Vázquez and Joey Gallo. All told, this division is bad, and the Twins are probably just less bad than the lot.

AL West – Houston Astros

Picking anyone else would be insane (don’t check my predictions for last year). The Seattle Mariners are on the cusp, and as we may be saying for the last time, the Los Angeles Angels have Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. Still, the Astros are the strongest and best team in baseball.

AL Wild Card 1 – New York Yankees – Look, they still have Judge, Anthony Rizzo., and Giancarlo Stanton. How they keep everyone healthy is anyone’s guess, but there is enough talent there to be great when it is all there, which may not be for more than 50 games.

AL Wild Card 2 – Tampa Bay Rays – They’re the Rays. They’re the team where you throw them a million mismatched Lego pieces, and they build you the Taj Mahal. There’s also just the look in Randy Arozarena‘s eyes during the WBC.

AL Wild Card 3 – Los Angeles Angels – Yes, the Mariners are probably better right now. However, the Angels are absolutely hellbent on keeping Ohtani and will pull out all the stops this year to make it happen. We may also see Trout more motivated than ever, which is astonishing considering how great he is.

AL MVP & Cy Young – Shohei Ohtani – Maybe this is a complete overreaction to the WBC, but Ohtani going into a contract year is going to put on a show that may never be repeated in the history of baseball.

AL Rookie of the Year – Gunnar Henderson – He’s the top prospect in the game, and he impressed during his cup of coffee last season.

AL Manager of the Year – Phil Nevin – It’s a narrative award. If the Angels make the postseason when no one thought they would, he gets the award.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL East – Atlanta Braves

The Braves were the top team in the division last year, and they improved with Sean Murphy. The New York Mets rotation depth took a hit already, and their bench looks ugly. The Philadelphia Phillies are stronger than last year and are best poised to make a run at the Braves.

NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals

They have Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and are very well run. The Milwaukee Brewers are in turmoil. Keep an eye on the Chicago Cubs who had a sneaky good offseason and could surprise.

NL West – San Diego Padres

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost too much. They not only lost Trea Turner, but they also lost his replacement in Gavin Lux. This is probably the thinnest their starting pitching has been. Meanwhile, the Padres just keep adding. At some point, they have to not have some implosion during the season. Keep an eye on the San Francisco Giants who had a smart under the radar Giants like offseason.

NL Wild Card 1 – Philadelphia Phillies – The reigning pennant winners are all the more formidable with Turner and Taijuan Walker. They will get a jolt when Bryce Harper returns.

NL Wild Card 2 – New York Mets – This team is still really good with Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander. It’s more than enough to win, and they will likely have the best roster to get a team through the postseason.

NL Wild Card 3 – San Francisco Giants – They immensely improved their offense with Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger. They know what they’re doing from a pitching standpoint better than anyone.

NL MVP – Jeff McNeil – With the shift ban, he could hit .400, and if he does that or makes a serious run, he will get the award.

NL Cy Young – Julio Urias – He has probably been the best pitcher in the NL over the past two years, and this could be the year he gets over the hump.

NL Rookie of the Year – Kodai Senga – It does not appear as if he has struggled with the new ball, and that ghost fork has looked lethal.

NL Manager of the Year – Rob Thompson – The Phillies are going to make a strong run at the division, and he will be partially rewarded for what he did when the took over the Phillies last season.

POSTSEASON

Wild Card Round

Angels over Twins
Yankees over Rays

Cardinals over Giants
Mets over Phillies

Divisional Round

Astros over Angels
Blue Jays over Yankees

Padres over Cardinals
Mets over Braves

League Championship Series

Astros over Blue Jays
MVP – Yordan Alvarez

Mets over Padres
MVP – Francisco Lindor

World Series

Mets over Astros
MVP – Justin Verlander

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Bold 2023 Mets Predictions

For the New York Mets 60th season, I made 60 bold predictions heading into the season. The concept is to really go for it instead of being meek and saying Francisco Lindor will play the most games at short, or Pete Alonso will lead the team in homers. It was to be daring. Some hit, and some did not. In any event, here are 61 for this year as this is the 61st season:

1.  The New York Mets will win the 2023 World Series.

2.  The Mets will be the third best team in the division during the regular season.

3.  David Peterson will have more starts this season than any other Mets starter.

4.  Kodai Senga will be an All-Star.

5.  Jeff McNeil will make a run at .400 and will finish with a batting average north of .370.

6.  By the middle of June, Brett Baty will be called up, and he will overtake the Mets third base job for the next decade.

7.  The Mets will have more blown saves by the All-Star Break than Edwin Díaz had all of last season.

8.  The Mets are going to find a way to get Alexis Díaz this season. When they get him, Steve Cohen will speak about just how important family is and how that was a motivating factor in getting Díaz.

9. Part of the Díaz deal will be Joey Votto going to the Mets. The lifelong Red will be excited because he is getting a chance to win, and the Reds will be excited because it clears a massive chunk of payroll. Votto will take over as the Mets DH.

10.  Ronny Mauricio is going to be moved this year as the big prospect to get a big piece or two at the trade deadline.

11. The Mets are not going to come to terms on an extension with Pete Alonso, but they will surprise us with one for Baty or Francisco Álvarez.

12. We will see Álvarez get called up multiple times, but he is not going to stick on the roster until September.

13. The Mets will not need a closer at the trade deadline, but they will need an outfielder. They will still get at least one reliever at the deadline.

14. Mark Canha will regress and lose his starting job forcing Jeff McNeil to left field.

15. Jacob deGrom will have a better season than Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. All three pitchers will finish in the top five in Cy Young voting.

16. The Mets will announce a date where they are going to retire Carlos Beltrán‘s number 15.

17. The pitch clock is going to be a hit with the fans, but we are going to see multiple issues early in the season where games are swung on its implementation leading to player and that fanbase’s frustration.

18. We are going to see Luis Guillorme make more starts on the infield than anyone not named Alonso or Francisco Lindor.

19. The Mets are going to have a tough first half with many wondering if the team was too old or if this is a reincarnation of the 1992 Worst Team Money Could Buy. The Mets will shut everyone up with a great second half.

20. The rule changes will rejuvenate Keith Hernandez, who will come to enjoy the modern game more than any particular fan.

21. Brandon Nimmo will be a first time All-Star. He will be joined there by Lindor, McNeil, Senga, and Verlander.

22. Pete Alonso returns to the Home Run Derby, and he wins it again.

23. Tommy Pham and Tim Locastro are not going to last the full season on the Mets roster as the team learns they need to radically overhaul their bench.

24. Eduardo Escobar loses his starting third base job, but he will still serve as an important semi-regular on the roster.

25. Lindor will be the only Mets player to win a Gold Glove this season. Guillorme and McNeil will be finalists.

26. Starling Marte will play fewer than 100 games, but he will be healthy for the postseason and will be one of the best Mets in the postseason.

27. Dylan Bundy will be added to the Major League roster at some point during the season, and he will stick in the bullpen at some point.

28. McNeil and Lindor will each finish in the top five in MVP voting with McNeil winning the award.

29. J.D. Davis will get out to a good start leading for Mets fans to further complain about the Darin Ruf trade, but Davis will cool off considerably thereafter with no one saying much of anything past May.

30. This will be Eric Chávez‘s last season as a coach with the Mets as he will be the hot candidate for managerial jobs in the offseason.

31. Meet Joey Meneses, who will be the newest Mets killer.

32. Scherzer is going to have a better season than Verlander.

33. Verlander will have zero issues adjusting to New York.

34. Lindor is going to play in every single Mets game this season.

35. The Mets will aggressively pursue David Bednar and Bryan Reynolds, but the stingy Pittsburgh Pirates owner will not make a deal with Steve Cohen on principle based on this spending the last offseason.

36. When he returns from the IL, Mets fans are going to fall in love with Bryce Montes de Oca, and we will see him get at least a down ballot Rookie of the Year vote.

37. Shohei Ohtani will not be traded this year no matter how hard the Mets try to get him. Part of the reason will be the Los Angeles Angels contending for the last Wild Card spot.

38. Noah Syndergaard will actually start against the Mets when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit Citi Field in April. He will get a loud ovation as he takes the mound.

39. Tylor Megill will make more starts for the Mets this season than Carlos Carrasco.

40. Alonso will appear in more games at DH than any other right-handed batter as Buck Showalter tries to keep him fresher than he did last season.

41. While there will be calls for a closer-by-committee approach, Showalter is going to go with David Robertson as the closer to begin the season, and he will carry the role at least through the All-Star Break.

42. Buck Showalter will not be the NL Manager of the Year, and he will not finish in the top five in voting.

43. There will be more of a time share at catcher between Omar Narváez and Tomás Nido than anyone will expect.

44. Jose Butto will be up-and-down a few times this season being designated at that prospect who comes up one week for a spot start and another week to hang out in the bullpen. He is going to struggle, and there will be more people calling him a non-prospect.

45. While it will be an exhausting story line, Verlander will win a World Series start, and he will be dominant.

46. Despite his World Baseball Classic success, no team will sign Matt Harvey this season with his pending suspension being part of the reason.

47. Brooks Raley will have a similar transition from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Mets that Aaron Loup once did.

48. Pride Night is scheduled for June 16. The Mets will force Raley to wear whatever gear is mandated that day by Major League Baseball.

49. Lindor is and will continue to be the best shortstop in baseball. Yes, that means he will have a better season than Trea Turner.

50. We will see Mark Vientos at some point this season but only for a limited time as the Mets are going to struggle to find spots for him even with Vientos having a monster year with Syracuse.

51. This will be the last season the 1962 Mets have the record for most losses in a season. The bottom feeders of baseball are just that bad this season.

52. Nimmo wins his first Silver Slugger this season.

53. The Mets will have a day honoring the New York Rangers after the Rangers win the Stanley Cup with Mets fan Adam Fox throwing out the first pitch.

54. While Adam Ottavino will have another good year, Drew Smith will be the Mets best set-up reliever this season.

55. Kevin Parada will play in Double-A this season, and we will start to hear some wonder if it is him or Álvarez as the Mets catcher of the future.

56. Nimmo is going to steal 20+ bases this season.

57. Escobar will continue his streak of 20+ home run seasons.

58. One development from the pitch clock is Citi Field will begin to have all of their concession stands handle pre-order and pick up as fans are not going to have as many delays and will not want to miss game action.

59. There will be some celebration at Citi Field this season for the 40th anniversary of the 1973 pennant winning team. It will likely be tied into Old Timers’ Day.

60. The Mets will have multiple events throughout the year giving rewards to Mets fans for wearing their caps out in public as a continued attempt to get them more attention than the Yankees.

61. This will be the first time New York holds a Stanley Cup and World Series title since 1928.

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Steve Cohen Sends Message With Super Bowl Ad

Normally, when the Kansas City Chiefs are in the Super Bowl, we are anticipating it to be tangentially related to the New York Mets because there is discussion of Patrick Mahomes being the son of former Mets reliever Pat Mahomes. Certainly, there was some of that with Mahomes saying his son was prepared for these moments because he had him there at the 2000 World Series.

There was also the Philadelphia angle. In a world we where people mistakenly believe you are either Mets/Jets or Yankees/Giants, the simple truth is Mets/Giants and Yankees/Jets make much more sense. The Mets and Giants fans hate Philadelphia, and they want to see them fail, and Super Bowl LVII was another area where Mets and Giants fans had the chance to see that happen.

So, between the Mahomes and the Philadelphia angle, Mets fans were locked in, but then again, who isn’t locked in for the Super Bowl. After all, it’s the biggest sporting even in our country, and that is why we see ads costing $7 million.

That brings us to Steve Cohen. In a shock to us all, the Mets ran a Super Bowl ad featuring Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Tomas Nido, Kodai Senga, Edwin Diaz as the closer, and of course, Mr. Met. It was a perfect commercial for Mets fans:

This would be the perfect commercial to run on SNY, or really any of the New York television stations. To be fair, that is what did happen. It was a regional Super Bowl ad, but nevertheless, Cohen purchased a Super Bowl ad, and it is one gaining a lot of traction.

Note, this ad comes off the heels of the other owners complaining about how Cohen is spending money.The deals for Justin Verlander and the almost completed deal for Carlos Correa sent them into a tizzy whining about the unfair economics.

Well, Cohen showed the rest of Major League Baseball it’s not just the spending on the players. As we know from recent interviews, it’s also not just the spending on the advanced technology and analytics.

Now, Cohen is making the Mets a more well renown brand. He is trying to be what the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Lakers are. For that matter, he’s trying to make the Mets what they once were in the 1980s.

The Mets purchased a Super Bowl ad. On the surface, it was to sell tickets. In reality, it was to sell the Mets. It was to send a message that the Mets are not stopping at beating you on the field. They will use every resource to grow the team and the brand even if that means purchasing a Super Bowl ad.

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MLB Pipeline Screws Mets

MLB Pipeline released their top 100 prospects rankings in January. One name that was conspicuously absent was right-handed staring pitcher Kodai Senga.

Now, MLB Pipeline was not alone in omitting Senga from their rankings. In fact, when Keith Law of The Athletic released his rankings, he, too, did not include Senga. That isn’t because Law doesn’t believe Senga wouldn’t be a top 100 caliber pitcher, but rather, out of respect for the Japanese Leagues, he won’t rank their players as pure prospects.

For someone like Law, that is a reasonable stance. After all, there is nothing tied to his rankings than clout. The same can be said for Baseball America, who ranked Senga 16th overall.

Now, Baseball America and Law can each take their respective positions. It is fine and reasonable, and honestly, they’re allowed to take their respective stances on Senga because nothing is at stake with their rankings.

The same is not true with MLB Pipeline.

Due to the service time manipulation issues with players like Kris Bryant, there was a clause set in the CBA set to incentivize early promotions. If a player with fewer than 60 days of services time wins Rookie of the Year or has a top three finish in the MVP or Cy Young voting, their organization receives draft compensation. There is a caveat.

That caveat is that player must be listed as a top 100 prospect on two of MLB Pipeline’s, Baseball America’s, or ESPN’s top 100 prospect rankings. If all of those measures are in place, then an organization will be in line for draft compensation.

Senga was listed on Baseball America’s meaning he needed to be named on one of MLB Pipeline or ESPN. Well, MLB Pipeline, owned by MLB, opted not to rank Senga in their top 100. There is zero justification for this action.

Someone like Law has the privilege of not counting Senga as a prospect. His decisions do not impact organizations ability to garner extra draft compensation. He does not have the power to incentivize teams to have prospects on the Opening Day roster.

MLB Pipeline has that power, and with that comes the duty to act accordingly. They don’t have the right to leave Senga off because he’s from the Japanese Leagues. Senga is eligible for National League Rookie of the Year, and he’s clearly better than many of the other players on the rankings.

Leaving off Senga only accomplishes one thing, and that is screwing the Mets. If you want to link this to prior complaints/threats from other MLB owners, you’re now welcome to do so even if the people behind MLB Pipeline shouldn’t be deemed to be so malicious..

Whatever the case, they made an error in judgment. Frankly, it is an inexcusable one. They owe everyone an explanation because their rankings only accomplished (potentially) screwing over the Mets organization.

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Wilpons Need To Stop Messing With Mets Fans

With Steve Cohen, things have changed so much for the better. Just look at this offseason, So far, the Mets have given record deals to keep Edwin Díaz and Brandon Nimmo. They have also brought in Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Omar Narváez, José Quintana, and David Robertson. In the past, it would take the Wilpons more than a decade to bring in all of these players, and of that group, we’d never be able to consider a Verlander coming to Queens.

However, even with the Wilpons gone, they still find ways to mess with New York Mets fans. Of course, it comes with them being cheap and not realizing the value of franchise greats.

SNY (read, the Wilpons) always seems to do this with Keith Hernandez. They make the contract negotiations more prolonged than they need to be. In many ways, they don’t realize his value to the franchise and their broadcasts. Keep in mind, Hernandez and his commentary keeps fans tuned in during blowouts because fans want to hear Keith in those situations. That’s not hyperbole.

Actually, maybe the Mets do realize Hernandez’s value. It may be much more likely they really just don’t care. Based upon their ownership of the Mets, we can safely assume that is the case.

That is what actually makes this worse. They already have their billions from the sale of the franchise. They were financially made whole from the Madoff Ponzi Scheme scandal. Now, they’re just making money off the Mets like they always do.

There is going to come a point in time where Keith steps aside, and we are no longer going to have Gary, Keith, and Ron. However, that has to come on GKR’s terms. They’re Mets legends, and they earned that right as they are about to surpass Lindsey Nelson, Bob Murphy, and Ralph Kiner as the longest serving Mets announcing trio.

The Wilpons cannot mess this up. They’ve already messed up too much, and for all they have done, this would be a step too far. We shouldn’t put it past them. All we can do is hope they finally do the right thing by the fans.

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