CINCINNATI -- The Mets on Friday made the dramatic move of optioning right-hander Kodai Senga, arguably their de facto ace entering Spring Training, to Triple-A Syracuse.
The assignment needed to be accepted by Senga, who has struggled mightily over his last eight starts, producing a 6.56 ERA in those games. The team is expected to recall No. 5 prospect Brandon Sproat from Syracuse to start Sunday against the Reds in his place, according to a source.
Senga was sensational in the first half of this season, going 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA through his first 13 starts, but his campaign was derailed by a right hamstring strain that he sustained during his start against the Nationals on June 12. In his nine starts since returning from that injury on July 11, Senga has been highly inconsistent, allowing at least one home run in all but two of those outings after allowing a total of four in his first 73 2/3 innings of the season.
Senga is in the third season of a five-year, $75 million contract. He made the All-Star team as a rookie but missed nearly all of last season due to injury.
The Mets now have three rookies in their six-man rotation in Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong. David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea round out that grouping.
Separately on Friday, the Mets activated catcher Francisco Alvarez from the 10-day injured list. He will attempt to play the rest of the season through both a sprained right thumb ligament and a broken left pinky.
The club made a couple of additional transactions ahead of its opener against the Reds on Friday night, activating right-hander Wander Suero, who had been claimed off waivers from the Braves earlier this week, and optioning catcher Hayden Senger.