On the day the Mets officially introduced Kodai Senga, they officially said goodbye to one of their homegrown, as Seth Lugo is reportedly finalizing a two-year deal with the Padres.
Per multiple reports, the deal will pay Lugo $7.5 million in 2023 and the second year is a $7.5 million player option for 2024, and the Padres plan to use Lugo as a starter at the back of a rotation that includes Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, and Yu Darvish at the top.
Lugo, 33, made 62 relief appearances for the Mets last season, posting a 3.60 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 65 innings. The Mets were not connected to him this winter, however, as he apparently made it clear he preferred to return to the rotation, despite his career numbers being better out of the bullpen (2.91 ERA, 1.053 WHIP, 10.0 K/9) than as a starter (4.35 ERA, 1.336 WHIP, 8.0 K/9).
He had debuted in 2016 as a swingman and made 18 starts in 2017, but the Mets have used Lugo almost exclusively as a reliever since he missed part of the 2018 season after suffering a slight tear of his UCL. He has not started a game period since making seven starts in the 2020 season, when the Mets stretched him back out as a last resort after numerous rotation injuries during the pandemic-truncated system, and his career high at the MLB level is 101 1/3 innings.
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