Sean Manaea Lands With The New York Mets
Sean Manaea has made his free agency decision. The lefty starter is signing a two-year deal in Queens with the New York Mets. The contract for the former Giants pitcher includes an opt-out after 2024. Surprisingly, Jon Heyman had the details of the deal:
Manaea deal is for $28M. Opt out after 2024. https://t.co/KLPV7tYiCo
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 7, 2024
David Stearns went with a framework similar to Craig Breslow’s contract with Lucas Giolito. A former valuable starter who’s star has dimmed in recent years. A two-year deal for decent money that has an opt-out after year one. It’s clear that Carlos Mendoza and the coaching staff are hoping the 31-year-old would return to his 2018 self. The Valparaiso, IN native was excellent in 27 starts, posting career-lows in ERA (3.59) and WHIP (1.077). He did have better averages in 2019 but only pitched in 29 innings due to injury.
It’s worth noting that Manaea’s 2023 had two very different halves. After adding a sweeper halfway through the season, his ERA went down considerably (5.49 to 3.43). Even though his K/9 went down he looked quite better. It’s gonna be interesting to see how he compliments the Mets pitching staff and rotation.
Spending Spree In Queens?
While Steve Cohen missed out on big names, he had prioritized quantity over quality this Winter. Manaea is the latest of a group that includes Harrison Bader, Luis Severino, Jorge Lopez, and Joey Wendle to name a few. We’ve known for a while that 2025 appears to be Cohen’s next all-in year rather than 2024. Even if that’s the case, there is still some considerable talent on this team and they could absolutely make a push for a Wild Card spot. And obviously, as the past two postseasons have shown, Wild Card teams go on to do pretty well in October. Worse comes to worse, there’s a lot of guys they can sell at the deadline this year.
Sean Manaea is the latest player to join the busybodies in Queens. The New York Mets have the chance to have found really good value in the lefty starter.
