Kodai Senga injury update fuels Mets-Jordan Montgomery rumors

Just days into Spring Training the New York Mets have already received a frustrating injury update with Kodai Senga, the team's ace, experiencing arm fatigue. Arm fatigue is better than an arm injury, but often fatigue can lead to injury eventually.

With that in mind, concerns revolving around Senga raise the question of whether the Mets should look at free agency to try and sign another pitcher has been raised.

Both Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery are hanging around in free agency waiting for a team to sign them. The team that ends up signing them could be a team like the Mets if the Senga injury is a serious one, or another team in a similar situation with an injured starter.

Mets could be surprise Jordan Montgomery destinations after Kodai Senga's injury

Snell is intriguing because of the simple reason that he just won the NL Cy Young Award. Snell would be an outstanding addition, obviously, but the fact that he has the qualifying offer attached makes him a non-starter. The Mets would have to give up draft capital and international free agency money to sign Snell, which just isn't going to happen.

Montgomery, on the other hand, does not have the qualifying offer attached. It'd cost nothing more than money to sign him. With that in mind, he feels like a somewhat realistic Mets target.

After multiple offseasons of big spending, New York has dialed things back this offseason with the only high-end free agent they pursued being Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Mets are treating the 2024 season as more of a retooling year as they assess the talent they have and build for the future.

For the Mets to sign Montgomery, they'd likely only consider it if he signs a short-term deal. Chances are, even with how things have gone for him, Montgomery will still sign a long-term deal that the Mets are just unwilling to match.

Even with Montgomery and a healthy Senga, this Mets team is not better than the Atlanta Braves or even the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. Saving their money for next offseason when pitchers like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, and Zack Wheeler (to name a few) are available makes more sense for a Mets team that is not going all-in right now.

If the terms of a Montgomery deal wind up being favorable, the Mets would certainly be interested. With Scott Boras representing him, it's unlikely to ever end up that way. Whether Senga winds up missing time or not, it's hard picturing the Mets being the team to win the drawn-out Montgomery sweepstakes.