By many measures, Manaea was the Mets’ best pitcher in 2024
Left-handed starter Sean Manaea plans to opt out of his contract with the New York Mets, according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.
Manaea signed a two-year, $28 million deal with the Mets before the 2024 season, with a player option after the first year of the deal. The team expected him to pitch in the middle of the rotation—especially after two mixed seasons with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants in 2022 and 2023, respectively—but Manaea stayed healthy and developed into a top-of-the-rotation starter in his first season in New York.
By many measures, Manaea was the team’s best pitcher in 2024. He led Mets pitchers in Baseball-Reference WAR (3.0), FanGraphs WAR (2.8), starts (32), wins (12) and strikeouts (184) while leading all qualified Mets starters in ERA (3.47) and FIP (3.83).
2024 was also arguably Manaea’s best season as a pitcher, as he finished with career-bests in ERA and innings pitched (181 2/3) amongst his full seasons of work. The 32-year-old spoke often about resurrecting his career following a disappointing playoff performance with the Padres by adopting a crossfire delivery inspired by Chris Sale.
Manaea grabbed the ace role by the end of the season and led the Mets with 19 postseason innings pitched, performing admirably until his final start in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In his final appearance of the season, Manaea gave up five runs and struck out two batters in just two innings as the Dodgers eliminated the Mets with a 10-5 pennant-clinching win.
Now missing a starter, the Mets would do well in pursuing Manaea to fulfill the Manaea-sized hole in the rotation. Considering his success in Queens, it might also make sense for Manaea to sign a multi-year deal to stick around.