Port St. Lucie, FL: New York Mets owner Steve Cohen during a spring training workout in Port St. Lucie Florida, February 18, 2025. (Photo by Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

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The New York Mets were disappointed all around after they followed up a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2024 without a playoff trip at all in this past season.

The main culprit behind that letdown was a starting rotation that endured several injuries and performance setbacks, including an injury and then a demotion to the minor leagues for former All-Star Kodai Senga.

After ending the season in the minors, Senga is now facing questions about whether he can ever get his best form back. And that has made a potential trade candidate this winter as he heads into the fourth season of a five-year, $75 million contract.

“The right-hander’s appeal is somewhat obvious; he has a career 3.00 ERA and 3.82 FIP across three seasons in the majors, and just this past season offered the Mets with a 3.02 ERA across 22 starts,” Nick Deeds wrote for MLB Trade Rumors. “That’s solid production for a starter as it is, and the fact that Senga will make just $28MM over the next two years (with an affordable club option for the 2028 season) figures to make Senga all the more attractive…”

Senga and the Mets could mutually benefit from a change of scenery for the pitcher, and the front office demonstrated its willingness to cut ties with incumbent players when it traded away Brandon Nimmo to bring in Marcus Semien shortly after the season ended.

But Senga has voiced his preference to remain with the Mets even after the team moved him to the minor leagues.

“Senga, a popular starting pitcher in the trade market, recently informed the Mets that he preferred to stay with the club as opposed to getting dealt elsewhere,” The Athletic’s Will Sammon reported. “After experiencing an injury, poor performance and a demotion last season, Senga is said to want to reestablish himself as a top starter in the Mets’ rotation.”

Senga posted a 2.98 ERA across 29 starts in his rookie season with the Mets, but made just a single start in the 2024 campaign. Then he was excellent to start this past season before being derailed once again by injury.

So, while it might have once seemed like Senga would be a frontline starter for a Mets team bound for a deep postseason run, now the team’s setback as well as the pitcher’s own could see him moving on, despite his own preferences.