Mets to sign Sean Manaea

The Mets have agreed to a three-year, $75MM contract with the left-hander Sean Manaeaaccording to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. As noted by Jon Heyman of the New York Postthe agreement awaits a physical.

Manaea, 33 in February, is now set to sign with the Mets for the second straight season. In the first week of January earlier this year, the southpaw signed with New York on a two-year deal that guaranteed him $28 million and included an opt-out after the 2024 campaign. It was the second straight winter Manaea signed a two-year deal with an opt-out after he signed with the Giants for $25MM guaranteed during the 2022-23 offseason.

The first contract in San Francisco came on the heels of a brutal 2022 season in San Diego in which Manaea struggled to a 4.96 ERA (76 ERA+) with a 4.53 FIP in 158 innings of work. His time with the Giants went better than that; while his 4.44 ERA (94 ERA+) was still below average, he nevertheless entered the offseason with much stronger peripherals (3.91 FIP, 3.83 SIERA) and a solid run of starts down the stretch that September, posting a 2.25 ERA and 3.21 FIP.

The Mets clearly believed it portended better days in Manaea’s future, and it certainly did. The lefty emerged as a quality middle-rotation option for New York in 2024, posting a 3.47 ERA (114 ERA+) with a 3.83 FIP in a career-high 181 2/3 innings of work across 32 starts. With a career year in the books ahead of his third straight trip to free agency, it seemed like Manaea was looking for long-term security. The Mets opted to tag the lefty with the qualifying offer at the start of the winter, but it was hardly a surprise when Manaea rejected the one-year, $21.05MM offer and hit the open market anyway. After all, the lefty entered the winter ranked by MLBTR as the #10 free agent available on our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list and only the #5 starter after that Corbin Burns, Blake Snell, Max Friedand Jack Flaherty.

Early in the offseason, the fact that Manaea was encumbered with QO led a number of clubs that likely would have had interest in a mid-rotation veteran like him to turn to alternative options. The Angels, Dodgers and Cubs turned in the early days of the offseason to unencumbered free agents such as Yusei KikuchiSnell and Matthew Boyd instead of diving into the markets for qualified free agents like Manaea, Nick Pivettaor Luis Severino.

That’s not a consideration for the Mets, though, as reuniting with Manaea only costs the hypothetical draft pick they would have received had he signed elsewhere. That has allowed Manaea to land a healthy guarantee despite a fairly small list of teams linked to him this winter: his three-year, $75MM deal exceeds the three-year, $60MM guarantee MLBTR initially predicted for him of the offseason, but that’s hardly a surprise since virtually every starting pitcher’s contract has exceeded expectations.

For New York, a reunion with Manaea serves as a likely capstone to the club’s efforts to reconstruct its starting rotation after he, Severino and Jose Quintana all hit the open market last month. The club added Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes to their rotation mix earlier this winter, but that duo offers some stability given Montas’ struggles in 2025 and the fact that Holmes last started a game in the majors back in 2018. Manaea provides much-needed stability while leading a rotation. which also includes talented right-handers Kodai Senga and young southpaw David Peterson.

With depth options such as Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megilland Griffin Canning all in the wings to help cover up potential injuries, it would hardly be a surprise if Manaea’s return ended the team’s rotation supplement for the winter. However, this does not mean that the club is finished. Even with a hefty 2025 paycheck that is RosterResource estimates will land right at $280MM as things stand, which still leaves $56MM in room to work with before the Mets match their 2024 numbers. That should leave plenty of room for the Mets to sign a corner infield bat to pair with Mark Vientoswhether it ends up being a reunion with Pete Alonso or an alternative option such as Alex Bregman and perhaps strengthen other areas of the roster such as the bullpen or the bench.