Latest news with #DavidStearns
New York Times
7 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
The Mets have a different plan for Kodai Senga's rehab this time
NEW YORK — Kodai Senga's hamstring strain is Grade 1, the least severe, meaning the right-hander will be shut down for about the next two weeks before being re-evaluated and ramped up to return. This places Senga's timeline to be back in the Mets' rotation in the second half of July. 'I feel like it's relatively good news,' manager Carlos Mendoza said. Advertisement The important step now for Senga and the Mets is to ace this recovery process, in a way they didn't with either of Senga's rehabilitations last year. In both instances, it appeared he and the Mets were not on the same page at times. Questions about Senga's next steps or his ultimate timeline were met with shrugs more often than with other players. It's important that the Mets and Senga learn from whatever disconnect existed then and apply those lessons to make this recovery process smoother all around. 'I wouldn't say we weren't on the same page. It was a tricky injury with a few setbacks,' Mendoza said. 'Now that we've gone through it with Senga, I'm pretty confident (in) the communication and the feedback with him. We'll continue to listen to him.' Indeed, going through the experience last season should help this time around. 'A lot of players, but particularly Senga, want to be involved in the process,' president of baseball operations David Stearns said. 'It's important that we get on the same page from the jump and that we're all bought into what this process is going to look like. 'I think we got there last year, but anytime you're going through this multiple times, I certainly know Senga a lot better now than I did last year. Our medical staff has worked through a rehab progression and rehab process with him already on multiple occasions. We feel pretty comfortable that whatever this turns out to be, we're going to be able to work very productively with him to get him back healthy.' That means the Mets being more forthright with their expectations for Senga. Typically, New York looks at a rehab in smaller increments, leaving room for improvisation as the player's health dictates. Taking that approach with Senga, who likes doing things his way, did not provide enough structure, with one team source describing the pitcher on rehab 'like a hot-air balloon in a hurricane.' Advertisement The Mets are fortunate that almost no team in baseball is better equipped to handle the absence of their best starter. New York dealt with losing Senga a year ago, its rotation has been lights out all season, it already has an established major-league starter to step into Senga's rotation spot in Paul Blackburn and it has reinforcements on the way in Frankie Montas (by the end of the month) and Sean Manaea (in July). It doesn't hurt, either, that the team is in first place in the National League East. Nevertheless, making the rehab process smooth for Senga is vitally important to the Mets' end goals. No pitcher on their staff has a higher ceiling than the 32-year-old, who appeared on Cy Young ballots in his rookie season in 2023 and was on pace for his second All-Star nod this season — the kind of pitcher they wanted to throw Game 1 even when he wasn't all the way back in 2024. Looking back on last year's postseason, perhaps the only hypothetical that haunts the Mets is what a fully healthy Senga could have meant for them, especially in their NLCS against the Dodgers. With the rest of the rotation flagging, Senga was rocked in his abbreviated start in Game 1 and pitched only in a mop-up role in the season-ending Game 6. A healthy Senga would have meant two better starts in the series, more aggressive usage of David Peterson out of the bullpen and a better chance of a pennant. This season, the Mets have been clearer in communicating their expectations for Senga. They did it in spring training, lining him up to start the fifth game of the season to better prepare him for the regular season's workload. And Senga has performed exceptionally well, leading Major League Baseball with a 1.47 ERA over 13 starts. Furthermore, new assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel has been especially beneficial for Senga. The two have developed a strong relationship, with Druschel helping prevent Senga from throwing too much. 'He's very meticulous with what he does with his rehab and his mechanics and his throwing program,' Mendoza said. 'I feel like we're in a good place, and I'm not anticipating any issues here.'
New York Times
10 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Frankie Montas' big-league role in doubt after another rough rehab start
NEW YORK — After another poor rehab start on Friday night, there's a chance that Frankie Montas' return to the New York Mets happens as a reliever. Starting for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday, Montas was lit up by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Montas allowed eight runs on seven hits and a walk while recording only five outs. In a seven-run second inning, Montas gave up a home run, three doubles and two singles. Advertisement The goal had been for Montas to pitch into the fifth inning. Instead, it was his second straight rehab start where he's gone backwards in innings. Friday's start only furthered concerns about Montas' performance during this rehab stint. He entered the night having allowed 12 earned runs in 12 innings across four starts. His rehab ERA is now 13.17 — barely lower than the Mets' five big-league starters combined, entering Friday (13.89). Montas has allowed 32 baserunners in 13 2/3 innings. Earlier in the day, president of baseball operations David Stearns said Montas would 'likely' need one more rehab start after Friday's. It's safe to say that additional start is required. 'This is kind of like spring training for him. Hitters now are in midseason form,' manager Carlos Mendoza said on Wednesday. 'It's hard to put too much into it when you're not game planning, you're just going out there, which, I think, we got to do a better job of that, of preparing him and giving him a little bit of an idea just on mechanics. But as far as results, we are not too concerned right now.' The Mets have been working with Montas on a tweak to his delivery — a relatively minor one with how he rotates his body that they believe will fix most of what's hindered him during his rehab assignment. But that obviously hasn't happened yet, and the clock is literally ticking for Montas. His 30-day rehab clock runs out on June 22, after which he must either be placed on the major-league roster or consent to be taken off his rehab because of a physical setback. If the Mets aren't confident that Montas represents an upgrade in the back end of their rotation — most likely over Paul Blackburn, who's filling in now for Kodai Senga — they could opt to use Montas out of the bullpen as a longman. That's the role Blackburn has been in over the past 10 days. New York's rotation entered Friday leading all of baseball with a 2.79 ERA.
New York Post
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Kodai Senga's injury will be a massive test of the Mets' biggest strength
Access the Mets beat like never before Don't miss Mike Puma's text messages from Queens and beyond — he's giving Sports+ subscribers the inside buzz on the Mets. Sign up Now With the national anthem just completed and the first pitch of Thursday's Mets matinee about 10 minutes away, David Stearns was indulging a phone call about a potential rotation logjam with Paul Blackburn already relegated to the bullpen and Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea progressing in their injury rehabs. In a variety of ways, the president of baseball operations offered that the Mets would make decisions when they had to make decisions and not before because often the decisions are made for you. 'Two weeks in baseball,' Stearns said, 'is a long time.' It wasn't even two hours later that the words resonated more powerfully. Kodai Senga injured his right hamstring covering first base in the sixth inning of what would be a 4-3 win over the Nationals. He will have an MRI on Friday, but Carlos Mendoza already acknowledged an IL stint is definite. With it came another reminder that there really is no such thing as having enough starting pitching.
New York Times
06-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The implications of Corbin Burnes' season-ending injury go far beyond the Diamondbacks
As the news on Corbin Burnes sadly demonstrates, David Stearns might have it right. Stearns, like Hall of Fame general manager Pat Gillick before him, loathes awarding long-term contracts to starting pitchers. In 11 years running the Milwaukee Brewers, who never spend big, and New York Mets, who often do, he has yet to sign a pitcher for more than he gave free-agent left-hander Sean Manaea last offseason – three years, $75 million. Advertisement Stearns was willing to make an exception during the 2023-24 offseason for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but only because the Japanese right-hander was 25. The Mets' three rotation additions last offseason – Manaea and right-handers Clay Holmes and Griffin Canning – cost a total of $117.25 million – or nearly $100 million less than the Arizona Diamondbacks paid Burnes, the latest big-name pitcher to blow out his elbow and require Tommy John surgery. For Stearns, a second straight offseason of bargain shopping – after hitting on Manaea, Luis Severino and José Quintana in 2024 – appeared a risk. But look at the Mets now, second in the majors in rotation ERA, with another of their modest acquisitions, Paul Blackburn, shutting out the Los Angeles Dodgers for five innings Monday night in his 2025 debut. And by contrast, look at the Diamondbacks. The news Friday on Burnes severely damages the Diamondbacks' chances not just for 2025, but also 2026. The Diamondbacks, at 31-31, 6.5 games back in the NL West, entered Friday with a four-game winning streak, but qualified as something of a disappointment. If they fail to sustain their recent run, they could sell at the trade deadline rather than push forward with a $187 million payroll, the highest in the franchise's 27-year history. The implications of Burnes' surgery, though, go far beyond the Diamondbacks' immediate future. The inevitability of pitching injuries haunts the entire sport. The enjoyment of watching a Paul Skenes or Tarik Skubal dominate is tempered by a question never far from anyone's mind: Who's next? Burnes, 30, signed a six-year, $210 million free-agent contract, matching Max Scherzer for the seventh-largest guarantee awarded a pitcher. The largest and 11th largest belong to the Dodgers' Yamamoto and Blake Snell. The second, fourth and 17th largest belong to New York Yankees pitchers Gerrit Cole, lefty Max Fried and lefty Carlos Rodón. Yamamoto missed nearly three months last season. Snell will miss at least two months this season. And those are relatively good outcomes, considering the potential for injuries that require even longer recoveries. Cole, after starting his nine-year contract with four mostly stellar seasons, is out until 2026 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Another prominent Yankees starter, reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, has yet to pitch this season due to a lat strain. And club officials surely are concerned that Fried, in the first year of an eight-year deal, is on pace to pitch a career-high 209 innings. Advertisement The Dodgers and Yankees thrive because they spend on high-end talent, excel at pitching development and build depth to compensate for injuries. Teams without their resources cannot manage to do all three, and the Burnes injury will serve as another red flag, further discouraging mid-market teams from investing heavily in starting pitching. The next class of free-agent starters includes the Diamondbacks' Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, the San Diego Padres' Dylan Cease and Michael King, the Houston Astros' Framber Valdez and, if he declines a player option, the Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo. For some of those pitchers, short-term deals with high average annual values might be a safer bet. Or maybe not. The Baltimore Orioles tried such an approach with Burnes, offering him a four-year, $180 million contract that carried an average annual value that was $10 million higher than the Diamondbacks' offer. Turns out the Orioles were fortunate Burnes said no. If he had suffered the same injury, half of the deal essentially would have gone to waste. This is an industry problem, one the sport is not close to addressing, much less fixing. Last December, Major League Baseball issued a report to the front offices of all 30 clubs, the culmination of a yearlong study on pitching injuries. Shock of shocks, the study cited the proliferation of max-effort pitching, both in velocity and movement, as the primary reason injury rates among pitchers 'skyrocketed' over the past several decades. Yet, when it comes to developing solutions, it's a wonder team executives and league officials do not blow out their own shoulders, as fiercely as they throw up their hands. Meanwhile, pitchers keep trying to throw their fastballs harder and their breaking balls sharper. Nothing will change until the incentives change, until the league implements new rules that effectively force pitchers to ease up on the throttle. Advertisement One possibility, a phased-in reduction from a maximum of 13 to 12 to perhaps even 11 pitchers, evokes fear of even more injuries. But seriously, how much worse can the situation even get? If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, baseball has officially gone insane. The Diamondbacks are merely the latest example of how quickly a team's best-laid intentions can go awry. A two-year, $47.5 million deal for lefty Jordan Montgomery backfired, with Montgomery ultimately requiring Tommy John surgery. A four-year, $80 million deal for lefty Eduardo Rodríguez, to this point, has been a disaster, too. And now the Diamondbacks face the potential departures of Gallen and Kelly, too. Gallen, represented by Scott Boras, has regressed to a 5.13 ERA in 13 starts, but almost certainly will seek top dollar on the open market. The Diamondbacks might stand a better chance of retaining Kelly, who is represented by Apex Baseball, but will they even want to dive back into the starting pitching market? Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen is not one to concede. The team perhaps has too much invested in this season to turn back. Trading Gallen and/or Kelly with Burnes and Montgomery out and Rodríguez yet to show consistency would leave the team scrambling to fill out their rotation. Then again, if the season is lost, Hazen also might feel an obligation to owner Ken Kendrick, who made a good-faith effort to build a championship roster despite playing in the same division as the spendaholic Dodgers. By parting at the deadline with their six potential free agents earning the most money – Gallen, Kelly and first baseman Josh Naylor, third baseman Eugenio Suárez, outfielder Randal Grichuk and reliever Shelby Miller – the Diamondbacks would save about $17 million. They probably wouldn't go that far, and depending upon how they are playing, might even buy and sell simultaneously. They also would need to weigh the proposed returns for Gallen and Naylor against the draft-pick compensation they would receive if the players rejected qualifying offers. But without Burnes, almost everything could end up in play. Constructing a 2026 rotation beyond Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson would be a challenge. But when Hazen traded Zack Greinke at the 2019 deadline, he acquired Mike Leake to cover innings in a separate deal and also landed Gallen, then a rookie, for infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. Hazen could back fill the same way again, and his internal rotation candidates would include converted reliever Bryce Jarvis, the reigning Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week, and prospects such as Cristian Mena and Yilber Díaz. Advertisement Not quite what the Diamondbacks put together this season, a powerhouse collection featuring Burnes, Gallen, Kelly, Rodríguez and Pfaadt. Kendrick and Hazen had the right idea when they signed Burnes, or at least, the right idea in theory. They were not backing down from the Dodgers. They were doing everything possible to win. That's the way the game should operate, right? Pay the best players, reap the benefits. The scourge of pitching injuries, though, is flipping the equation, to the point where Stearns' strategy might be preferable. Rather than pay top dollar for pitching, he'll simply target short-term options with upside, then rely on the Mets' pitching lab to maximize their potential. For the second straight year, it's working. And even if recent acquisitions like Holmes and Canning fail to sustain success, Stearns faces only so much downside. When it comes to signing starting pitchers, he will go only so far. And never as far as the Diamondbacks did for Corbin Burnes. (Top photo of Burnes and Diamondbacks assistant athletic trainer Max Esposito:)
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mets GM Offers Trade Update Before Massive Yankees Series
If New York president of baseball operations David Stearns is working on any trades, he's certainly mastered the art of the poker face. Naturally, the topic of a trade came up when Stearns addressed reporters Wednesday. Fans and pundits alike always like talking trades, especially when the team involved is 28-16 and positioned for a third playoff berth in four years. Advertisement Theoretically, a club 12 games above .500 shouldn't need to radically overhaul their lineup, especially not with perennial MVP candidate Juan Soto finally finding his power stroke. 'I don't see any specific glaring spot on the team right now that maybe we had last year at this time that we feel like we need to be extremely proactive about,' Stearns said. But? The New York Mets celebrate an April 2025 victoryWendell Cruz-Imagn Images 'But if there are areas where we feel like we can get better and players available, we're certainly going to make a deal,' Stearns acknowledged. Although Stearns cited the team's defense as an area he'd like to improve, he also reiterated his belief in the current players. Advertisement In other words, don't expect the Mets to completely overhaul their roster within the next few weeks, not that anyone should have expected that anyway. Whether or not the Mets need to make any significant trades is another conversation entirely. Soto publicly advocated the team acquire Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara last month, though there haven't been any credible reports indicating a deal is on the table. We feel comfortable saying that the Mets shouldn't need to acquire a first baseman, shortstop, right fielder, or left fielder this deadline. And, if they do, then they have bigger problems than figuring out which Double-A prospect they want to give up. Related: Former Mets Pitcher Mocks Controversial Pete Rose Announcement Related: Red Sox Trade Proposal Adds Dangerous Bat as First Base Solution
