The New York Mets and left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea have agreed to a two-year contract that will allow Manaea to opt out after the end of next season, major league sources confirmed to The Athletic. The New York Post first reported the deal, which is reportedly worth a total of $28 million.
In Manaea, the Mets see a stabilizing presence who can pitch meaningful innings. He joins a rotation that also includes Kodai Senga, José Quintana, Luis Severino and Adrian Houser, as well as Tylor Megill as a depth option along with Joey Lucchesi and others (David Peterson is out for the first few months of the season with a hip injury). ). Manaea stands out somewhere in the middle of this group.
At this point, it appears unlikely that the Mets will sign another starting pitcher this offseason, people familiar with the club's thinking say. However, it's possible they add depth through a minor league signing or something similar. After missing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, it was always unlikely that the Mets would move to other starters at the top of the market. Instead, the Mets were expected to look to bolster their rotation with someone who can deliver good innings in the short term, like Manaea essentially does.
Manaea, who turns 32 in February, is known for his “posting up,” the colloquial term in baseball that refers to the ability to take the ball on every turn. However, consistency often remained a problem. In eight seasons in the major leagues, he owns a 4.10 ERA and 4.05 FIP with a league average 100 ERA+. Last season in a hybrid role with the San Francisco Giants, Manaea had a 4.44 ERA/3.90 FIP in 117 2/3 innings over 37 games, including 10 starts.
With the Mets, Manaea is expected to function exclusively as a starting pitcher.
Manaea added a sweeper last season. After he started throwing on May 30, he had better results. From that date through the end of the season (85 innings), he had an ERA of 3.60/FIP of 3.19. Some believe Citi Field could be a good place for his profile; he has had a higher fly ball rate in the past.
Last season, Manaea's fastball velocity rose to 93.6 mph, a career-high, but there is a perception around the league that this figure is due in part to shorter stints. Manaea's walk rate rose to a career-worst 8.7 percent.
New York also considered signing Manaea last winter, according to people familiar with those discussions. The Mets never advanced the conversation around him beyond the preliminary level because they signed Quintana (in addition to Senga and Justin Verlander). Last offseason, the Giants signed Manaea to a two-year, $25 million guarantee that allowed Manaea to opt out at the end of 2023. In fact, the Mets made a similar deal with him this time around.
It's important for the Mets to get Manaea at a similar price to last year. As The Athletic previously reported, outside of Yamamoto, the Mets operated like a team in recalibration mode this winter, paying close attention to prices. They remain at the top of the league's payroll and are expected to remain there as long as Steve Cohen owns the team.
But for several reasons, including the amount of money — much of which is owed to players no longer with the team — that will be removed from New York's books after the 2024 season, it made perfect sense for the Mets to be flexible Keeping an eye on contracts that you believe will have helped them remain competitive in 2024. From their perspective, adding players like Manaea would help achieve all of that.
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(Photo: John Hefti / USA Today)