Dodgers Team News

MLB News: Japanese Star Signs With New York Mets

Another day, another free agent to cross off the list for your Los Angeles Dodgers. MLB insider Ken Rosenthal confirmed that Japanese pitcher and highly touted free agent Kodai Senga will take his talents to New York and become a Met.

Senga, 30, will sign a five-year $75 million contract with the Metropolitans, and that seems like a deal the Dodgers could’ve made.

A rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Jose Quintana, and Carlos Carrasco are projected to be the five guys in their rotation at the start of the 2023 season. Verlander signed with the Mets a couple of days ago after a stellar 2022 campaign in which he won AL Cy Young and a World Series title.

L.A. was in on both Verlander and Senga but failed to add either. This has been a relatively dry offseason for the Dodgers as their biggest free agent signing at the moment has been signing Shelby Miller to a one-year deal from the San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers were in on almost all the top free agents but could not get it done. Senga would have been a great piece to add to the rotation, as they needed another solidified starter.

Kodai played the past 11 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. The righty was one of the league’s best pitchers, posting a 2.59 ERA in over 1,089 innings and having a strikeout rate of 28.22% and a walk rate of 9.33%.

The rookie will look to duplicate those numbers and help guide the Mets to their first World Series title since 1986.

L.A. has a ton of work to do.

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Ricardo Sandoval

Born and Raised in the East side of Los Angeles. Ricardo is a staff writer at Dodgers Nation and on the LA Sports Report network of sites. He's also a lifelong Dodgers and Lakers fan. Ricardo is an alumnus of CSUN (Go Matadors).

5 Comments

  1. If you really think the Dodgers are saving money for Otani in 2024, you are in dreamland. First it’s one year down the road and a lots can happen until then. What if the new owners decide to extend him. What kind of money and years do you believe he’s going to get. The years are probably going to be 15 by then and half a million dollars. The only players the Dodgers are going to sign are aged veterans for a couple of years .Andrew’s philosophy will have to change to remain competitive.

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