According to Jon Heyman, lefty Sean Manaea has signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets following a season with the San Francisco Giants.
According to numerous reports, left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea of the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets have reached an agreement on a two-year, $28 million deal. After the first season, players can opt out of the contract. Jon Heyman of The New York Post broke the story of the arrangement first. Manaea was apparently interested in signing with the Giants again, but they were unable to come to an agreement.
The Giants and Manaea agreed to a very similar two-year, $25 million contract with an opt-out after the first year. Manaea alternated between a starting and a pinch-hitter position in the Giants rotation, despite expectations that he would be a fixture. Although he returned to the rotation at the end of the season on a high note, his total performance was not as noteworthy. In 117.2 innings thrown (37 appearances), he had a 4.44 ERA (4.18 xERA, 3.90 FIP, 4.01 xFIP), 128 strikeouts, and 42 walks.
Manaea chose to opt out of his contract with the Giants this winter because he wasn’t thrilled with his position on the team and felt good enough about his season to command a higher salary on the free-agent market. It is easy to imagine a reunion because Manaea was handled by Bob Melvin, the new manager of the Giants, for multiple seasons while he was with the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres. Rather, he is going to New York City, where he is presently positioned in the Mets lineup after José Quintana and Kodai Senga.
It has been a long since Manaea produced a fantastic all-around season, despite his flashes. In 2022, Manaea pitched 158 innings with 156 strikeouts, 50 walks, and a career-worst 4.96 ERA. However, ERA estimators did appear to indicate that Manaea was not entirely without misfortune. In comparison to his ERA, his xERA (4.06), FIP (4.53), and xFIP (3.96) were all significantly lower. In 1002.2 innings pitched during his career, Manaea has a 4.10 ERA (4.05 FIP and 4.04 xFIP).
Even with its poor performance in the recent past, Manaea was still one of the most interesting armaments available. With the Giants past season, he showed some intriguing unrealized potential despite being thirty-one years old, thanks to a notable increase in his speed. Teams continue to expect that he can be a rotation regular, as seen by his 3.86 ERA at the beginning of his career with the A’s from 2016 to 2021.