The Mets and left-hander Sean Manaea are in settlement on a two-year deal price $28M assured, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The deal comes with an opt-out following the 2024 season.
Manaea, 32 in February, was a first-round decide by the Royals again in 2013 and was swapped to the A’s alongside Aaron Brooks within the 2015 deal that introduced Ben Zobrist to Kansas Metropolis. The southpaw made his massive league debut in Oakland early within the 2016 season and common a stable rookie 12 months for himself with a 3.86 ERA and 4.08 FIP throughout 144 2/3 innings of labor. Manaea continued to supply mid-to-back end-of-the-rotation consistency for Oakland over the following few seasons, and he owned a profession 3.94 ERA (105 ERA+) and 4.15 FIP in 464 innings by the tip of the 2018 season. Sadly, the lefty’s success was interrupted by shoulder surgical procedure late within the 2018 marketing campaign and he missed practically all of 2019.
Upon his return to motion late within the 2019 season, Manaea roughly picked up proper the place he left off. In 48 begins from 2019-21, the left-hander posted a stable 3.73 ERA (111 ERA+) with a powerful 3.64 FIP. Throughout this stretch, Manaea noticed his strikeout charge climb significantly. Although he entered the 2019 season with a charge of simply 19.2% for his profession, the lefty struck out 24.8% of batters confronted over the following three seasons whereas strolling simply 5.2% and producing a 43.8% groundball charge that was a close to match for his 44.1% determine within the first three seasons of his profession. With only one 12 months left earlier than the lefty would hit free company and the staff going nowhere in 2022, the A’s shipped Manaea to San Diego because the Padres in a four-player deal, netting a pair of prospects for the left-hander’s providers.
Sadly, Manaea started to battle upon departing Oakland. The lefty’s lone season in San Diego was one thing of a catastrophe as he struggled to a 4.96 ERA, 24% worse than league common by ERA+, with a 4.53 FIP. Manaea’s strikeout charge dipped to 23.2%, his stroll charge climbed to 7.5%, and he generated grounders at a career-worst 38.2% clip. Whereas the southpaw largely regarded like himself within the first half of the season, with a 4.11 ERA and 4.07 FIP in 100 2/3 innings of labor (17 begins), that manufacturing fell off a cliff down the stretch as he allowed a whopping 6.44 ERA over his closing 13 contests. These struggles led Manaea to signal a two-year, $25M cope with the Giants final offseason that gave him the choice to return to the free agent market this winter.
At first, Manaea’s time with the Giants noticed equally disastrous outcomes as his closing outings with the Padres the earlier 12 months. The lefty was booted from the membership’s rotation in early Might and by mid-June had put collectively a 5.84 ERA in 49 1/3 frames as opposing batters teed off to the tune of a hefty .474 slugging proportion. Nonetheless, as MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald famous in a recent profile of Manaea, the lefty added a sweeper to his repertoire on the finish of Might and located huge success with it. Hitters struggled to a .140/.161/.163 slash line in opposition to the pitch, swinging and lacking at it 35.1% of the instances it was thrown.
After including the sweeper, Manaea rapidly discovered extra success with the Giants. He pitched to a stable 3.78 ERA with a improbable 3.26 FIP in his closing 81 frames of the season, and excelled in a late-season return to the rotation with a 2.25 ERA and three.21 FIP in 4 September begins. After including the sweeper midseason, Manaea punched out 24.2% of batters confronted whereas strolling 6.6% and producing grounders at a 44% clip harking back to his days in Oakland. Whereas nearly all of that success got here in multi-inning reduction, the lefty nonetheless flashed the shape that made him a profitable mid-rotation arm earlier in his profession.
The robust late-season outcomes led Manaea to say no his $12.5M participant possibility with the Giants and return to the open market. The choice labored out properly for the southpaw, as his $28M pact with the Mets comes with an AAV of $14M and the flexibility to return to choose out of the deal as soon as once more subsequent winter ought to he select to take action. Manaea barely outperformed the two-year, $22M prediction MLBTR provided when rating him thirty fifth on our annual Top 50 MLB free agents listing, incomes an extra $3M yearly over the identical time period. The deal is usually according to the marketplace for back-end starters this offseason, which has seen the likes of Nick Martinez ($26M) and Kenta Maeda ($24M) earn related ensures on two-year preparations.
By including Manaea, the membership provides one other veteran arm to a rotation combine that parted methods with each Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander on the commerce deadline final summer time. The southpaw figures to return to beginning full-time in becoming a member of the Mets, slotting into the center of the membership’s rotation behind incumbents Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana and forward of fellow offseason additions Luis Severino and Adrian Houser. The addition of Manaea permits the membership to make the most of the likes of Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi and Jose Butto as depth choices on the Triple-A degree or within the membership’s bullpen. The identical figures to go for lefty David Peterson when he returns from offseason hip surgical procedure someday subsequent summer time.
The Mets had been already over the best luxurious tax threshold of $297M previous to signing Manaea, Which means his full $14M is a part of the Mets’ overage coming into 2024. Assuming they continue to be over the best tax threshold all season, the membership figures to pay $15.8M in taxes on Manaea’s wage subsequent season, that means the membership successfully figures to pay $29.8M for the lefty’s providers in 2024. In fact, that’s unlikely to be a lot of a priority for the Mets because the membership paid over $100M into the posh tax this previous season. With the membership’s rotation combine now probably settled, the Mets determine to proceed trying to find assist at third base, DH and in the bullpen going ahead.
