3-letter word no NY Mets player should ever be allowed to utter again

An ace. That was one of the biggest offseason shopping items for David Stearns over the winter. After trying and failing at building a rotation built around supposed depth over star power in 2025, the New York Mets executive learned the hard way that while depth can be important, a true contender needs an ace who can serve as a stopper.

However, as 2025 kicked off, some didn't believe that New York was lacking top-of-the-rotation pizzazz at all. In fact, there was a narrative floating that all the Mets had were front-end starters. Most knew better, but still, there were those who were deluded. Frankie Montas was the chief Kool-Aid drinker when he proclaimed the club had "Five No. 1s," a take that aged like milk.

That was the first time in recent memory that the term "ace" or one of its synonyms was used by a Mets player and immediately came back to haunt the team. The second time was more recent, when Juan Soto effused praise on Kodai Senga, saying, "That's our ace."

Count Kodai Senga as the latest victim of the Mets' "ace" curse

Senga was the subject of trade rumors all winter, as the thought was that the Mets needed to consolidate their rotation depth in favor of having a clear rotation leader. Instead, by trading for Freddy Peralta, the team thought they accomplished that goal without having to shed salary.

Peralta hasn't been terrible, but it's hard to call him an ace given what he's turned in so far. Through six starts, he's been remarkably inefficient, failing to complete six innings in all but one game so far. Peralta has long struggled with his pitch count rising early, in large part due to racking up a lot of strikeouts and having a slightly higher-than-average walk rate. Still, aces eat innings, and that's something he hasn't been capable of thus far.

That brings us back to Senga. Since arriving in Queens, he's preferred to pitch on a schedule similar to what he was familiar with in Japan. That extra day of rest, however, isn't always possible in the MLB, and when he's been called upon to pitch on four days' rest, the results haven't been pretty.

True aces need to be able to rise to the occasion, even when they're fatigued, and that hasn't been Senga, despite an ace-like 3.00 career ERA entering the 2026 campaign.

Even though it's early, Senga's year has been something of a tale of two seasons. His first two starts saw him pitch to a 3.18 ERA over 11.2 innings, with 16 strikeouts against five walks. That sounds like something an ace would put up while still strengthening his arm in the early going.

But then there were his next three starts, and things couldn't have been more different. Starting from his April 11 start against Jeff McNeil's Athletics through his last start against the lowly Colorado Rockies, the 33-year-old has logged just 8.1 innings with a 17.28 ERA and more walks (8) than strikeouts (7). That three-start span ballooned his ERA to 9.00 on the year.

Of course, Senga won't have a chance to improve on that for a while. The Mets placed him on the 15-Day injured list with lumbar spine inflammation. And that's another reason why Senga can't be considered an ace. He misses far too much time. Prior to 2026, he averaged 95 innings per season over his three years stateside.

This isn't to say that he's to blame for his injuries or that even aces can't get hurt, but there's something to be said about durability being a prerequisite for being considered a true No. 1. This is just another area where Senga comes up short.

The Mets haven't had luck when they anoint anyone an ace. Sean Manaea was billed as the de facto ace coming into last season, and that failed miserably. Now he's a long reliever who struggles to break 90 miles per hour with his fading fastball. Frankie Montas, well, that was a ridiculous suggestion to begin with.

New York has a couple of starters who have turned in standout performances this year, in Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean. They've done what's been asked of them and then some. We're not going to use the word in order to avoid a jinx, and we'd recommend the Mets don't either. Whenever it's uttered, the wheels seem to quickly fall off.

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