Padres Targeting Mets' $75 Million Struggling Pitcher in Surprise Twist: Report

Griffin Canning, Germán Márquez and Walker Buehler are a combined 12-16 with a 5.49 ERA. To potentially upgrade the back end of their starting rotation, the San Diego Padres are reportedly kicking the tires on a pitcher who's 0-8 with an 8.66 ERA.

Those surface-level stats don't wholly explain the Padres' reported interest in New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga. Nor do they capture in totality the Padres' need for starting rotation depth.

Crude as they are, the numbers paint an accurate picture of a team in desperate need of rotation depth to keep its postseason hopes alive, and the relative dearth of impact starters available before the 3 p.m. PT Monday trade deadline around MLB.

Senga, 33, has gone from a staff ace in 2023, and a postseason starter in 2024, to a below-replacement-level pitcher in 2026. His minus-1.5 Wins Above Replacement make him the worst pitcher in MLB this season, according to Baseball Reference.

The question is not if the Mets would be willing to part with Senga in a trade. It's how much of his remaining salary (about $4.5 million this season and $14 million next year) they're willing to pay down.

Why Would the Padres Be Interested in Kodai Senga?

Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who reported the Padres inquired about Senga, made it clear why they bothered to check in: Preller liked Senga when he was a free agent coming out of Japan, where he starred for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Additionally, Sherman reports that Senga considers Padres pitcher Yu Darvish a mentor, and has worked out with him in the offseason.

Not in the report (though it might have gone without saying): the Padres' budget is likely a factor, too. No team would assume Senga's full salary in any trade, unless the Mets packaged a more talented and less expensive player with him in the deal.

For example: a package of Senga and Jonah Tong, a consensus Top-50 prospect coming into the season, would be much more intriguing. Tong has had some rough outings at Triple-A Syracuse (3-5, 5.24 ERA) but at 23, he still has time to develop into the pitcher the bullish projections are forecasting.

The Padres might have to get creative to make a Senga deal make sense, but getting creative has benefitted Preller in the past.

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