Buck Showalter eases concerns about Kodai Senga's health

Kodai Senga was scratched from his start on Saturday due to a finger issue. Naturally, as us fans tend to do, our minds go to worst case scenarios. Losing Senga for any length of time piles onto the already existing concerns about Jose Quintana’s status for Opening Day. The New York Mets can afford to have an injured starter. They just can’t have a lot of them.

Thankfully, there’s Buck Showalter to provide some levity to the situation and answer a lot of questions without really saying a whole lot.

The overly cautious Mets are doing the right thing with Kodai Senga

The Mets are being very careful with a lot of players this preseason. Brandon Nimmo is scheduled to make his first appearance of the spring on Sunday. Starling Marte hasn’t been rushed into action. They’ve handed a whole bunch of innings to pitchers who probably won’t appear in all that many big league games this year.

The late scratch for Senga seems to be nothing more than precautionary. As Buck said, in the regular season, he’d be out there on the mound tonight. 

Let out a sigh, Mets fans. He’s going to be okay.

Senga’s health is something we should expect the Mets to monitor closely all year. Nobody is adjusting to this league more than him. Less rest and some previous injuries should have them making similar decisions like this in the regular season. The ball club is fully loaded with alternative options to get them through a game. It’s up to everyone to be on the same page and realize a start early in the season might count the same in the standings, but if it costs you a half-dozen in September and October, it’s not worth the risk.

There is no word yet on when Senga’s next spring start will take place. A little bit of rest will, hopefully, be all it takes for him to get back on the mound and dazzle a few more batters with his ghost fork.