Mets to sign Kodai Senga

The Mets agreed to a five-year, $75 million deal for the right-hander Kodai SingaReporting by Andy Martino from SNY (Twitter links). Senga’s contract also contains non-trade protections and an opt-out clause after the 2025 season, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Across Twitter). The deal will become official when Senga goes through a physical. Senga is represented by Wasserman Agency.

The contract number exactly matches the projection from MLBTR, with Senga ranked 11th on the list Top 50 free agents of the offseason. No other posting fee was included in the Mets’ costs, as Senga became a fully free agent thereafter Exercise An opt-out clause in his contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Senja turns 30 in January, leaving the Hawks after 11 stellar seasons. Right has a 2.59 ERA, a strikeout rate of 28.22%, and a walk rate of 9.33% over 1,089 innings, a career high in Japan. Senga’s four-court arsenal is highlighted by an excellent splitter and a fastball that routinely hits the upper 90s. Scout reports indicate that Senga’s control is inconsistent at times, but otherwise, many pundits feel his purposes could translate well to North American baseball.

It’s been just over a year since Singa signed on New five-year deal With the Hawks, but with the important provision of an opt-out clause that he was widely expected to use, assuming he gathered the necessary serving time needed for full free agency. This was a key step in the process, as the Hawks (unlike many other NPB teams) do not make their players available to the NPB/MLB posting system. While discussing his plan to transition to baseball in North America, Senga said last year, “As a football player, it is imperative that I live my life always aiming higherHe’s arguably more accomplished in Japanese baseball than that. Right-hand resume includes five Japan Series titles with the Hawks, three NPB All-Star appearances, two placements on the Pacific League Best Nine Team, and (out of league play) ) Olympic gold medalist with the Japanese baseball team in 2021.

Between Senga’s potential and the general demand for a promotion this season, it’s not surprising that multiple teams have their eye on his market. Other clubs known to be interested were the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Mariners, and Padres, and agent Joel Wolfe implicit that as many as twelve MLB teams have checked in on his client. There have been multiple five- and six-year offers on Senga’s table, and while he’s picked up a five-year option from the Mets, opting out allows Senga to re-enter the market and potentially get additional years and more. Money as he enters his season at the age of 33.

Heading into the offseason, the Mets faced the challenge of a large free agent class that included a star closer (Edwin Diaz) and most bowling altogether, the starting center fielder (Brandon Nemo), and most of their rotation initially in the form of Jacob DeGrumAnd the Taeguan WalkerAnd the Chris Bassett. However, with the Winter Meetings just passed, New York has already addressed most of those loopholes by re-signing Diaz and Nemo, and replacing that rookie trio with Justin VerlanderAnd the Jose Quintana, and now Senga. If that wasn’t enough, the Mets have beefed up the relief corps with a signature David Robertson and get it Brooks Raleigh In the trade of rays.

There was no question that owner Steve Cohen was willing to keep spending in order to keep his team’s 101-game winning streak in the World Series. However, the spending spree has just continued to reach record highs, such as list resource The Mets expect a 2023 payroll of about $334.68 million, and a luxury tax number of just over $349.5 million.

Not only does this dwarf the competitive credit tax threshold of $233 million, it also surpasses the fourth and highest level ($293 million) of CBT. The fourth level was introduced in the last collective bargaining agreement as an additional penalty for excessive spending, and was informally called the “Steve Cohen tax” since the owner made no secret of his intentions to increase the salary significantly. Since this is the Mets’ second straight year of tax increases, they will face a two-fold penalty, plus a 90 percent excess tax on any dollars spent in excess of $233 million. That works out to about $104.85 million in tax penalties — according to Fangraf11 teams are not currently scheduled to spend more than $104.85 million on all of their 2023 payroll.

With the Mets already in uncharted financial territory, there could be more big moves in store for Cohen and GM Billy Eppler. With the luxury tax seeming to be little more than a speed bump for Amazons’ plans, the club may continue to add expensive talent, and not even bother trying to get under $293 million for any sort of moderate reduction of the CBT bill.

On paper it looks like the bullpen could use more boosts, the catcher also seems to be in a weaker position except for a higher probability Francisco Alvarez It is expected to get more league playing time in 2023. The rotation now seems to be quite specific Max Scherzerand Verlander, Senga, Quintana, and Carlos Carrasco The five make up the beginning. Speculatively, the Mets might feel comfortable enough deep inside to buy one of their backup starters (eg David PetersonAnd the Taylor MiguelAnd the Eliezer Hernandez) is in business talks with a team in need. Or, given the aging ages and some injury uncertainty surrounding Mets starters, New York might also choose to retain as much shooting depth as possible.

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