Mets shift Kodai Senga from rotation to bullpen in Carlos Mendoza’s decision

The New York Mets have moved Kodai Senga from the starting rotation to the bullpen, manager Carlos Mendoza announced to reporters, according to MLB Trade Rumors on June 24. The move changes Senga’s day-to-day role and indicates that the team is seeking a different way to get value from one of its more important right-handed arms.

Senga’s transition comes amid a season in which the team has characterized him as a struggling starter. Rather than keeping him in the regular rotation cycle, the Mets are reworking his usage pattern, which typically allows pitchers to throw with shorter stints and without the same exposure that can come from facing lineups multiple times in a game.

For the Mets, the decision carries immediate roster-management implications. Moving a starter to the bullpen creates a need to recalibrate the late-inning plan and the timing of how the bullpen is managed across series. It also affects how New York’s starting staff will be scheduled in future turns, since Senga’s innings are now expected to come in different shapes rather than as a traditional starter’s workload.

Senga’s role change also affects how hitters and opposing managers prepare. In the rotation, opponents can plan around a pitcher’s start time and anticipate how the game will play in innings 1 through 5. In relief, matchups are often more fluid, with managers targeting specific batters depending on base runners, handedness, and leverage situations.

The announcement, as reported, came through ESPN’s Jorge Castillo as relayed by MLB Trade Rumors. That gives the decision a level of immediacy, but it is still a single-team move that should be followed by confirmation of how Senga will be deployed game to game, including whether he begins with middle innings, setup work, or higher-leverage assignments.

For Mets fans and evaluators, the key question now is whether the bullpen setting helps Senga regain command and effectiveness. A shift to relief can reduce mechanical and workload stress, but it also requires a pitcher to adjust to different bullpen rhythms, whether it is warming up more frequently or entering games under more volatile game states.

Next to watch is how quickly the Mets settle their rotation-turned bullpen usage and whether the team pairs Senga with a consistent set of other relievers to stabilize innings from roughly the middle stretch through the end of games. The longer the transition takes, the more it will reveal what New York believes the ceiling of this staff can be moving into the later part of the season.