Players sometime have a difficult choice when their opt-out decision is due at year’s end. Sean Manaea isn’t one of those cases. Manaea’s call isn’t close.
The new Mets ace surely is going to void the 2025 portion of his contract that calls for a $13.5 million salary should he accept it. That would be like me deciding whether to write deadline columns for The Post for a penny next year. (Fun, sure, but I’ve gotta think I deserve a dime, at least.)
Game after game, Manaea is showing himself worth multiple times that bargain $13.5-million guarantee.
Manaea threatened for a while Wednesday to throw a perfect game on a perfectly cool day at Citi Field in a 4-3 Mets victory over the Orioles eventually won on deadline pickup/pinch-hitter Jesse Winker’s walk-off, ninth-inning opposite-field home run. (Winker’s wild celebration registered a nine on a 1-to-10 scale, meaning it was still tamer than Francisco Alvarez’s impromptu on-field party after also victimizing new Mets favorite Seranthony Dominguez a couple days earlier.)
Manaea, meantime, carried that potential perfecto through two outs in the sixth inning, pitched seven innings a fourth time in five games and keeps getting better.
“He’s been huge,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He continues to step up.”
Manaea would be a worthy Game 1 October starter, if the Mets get that far. And while they still trail the hated Braves for the sixth playoff spot, they retain hope thanks to walk-off wins like these and a 6-1 record against the top two AL East teams (as opposed to their recent struggles against the leagues’ dregs).
The Mets made several prescient free agent calls last winter, and the one to try to bring back Manaea should be easy. The focus among Mets free agents understandably will continue to be homegrown slugger Pete Alonso, and I get it. He’s a great Met, the fans love him and he’s hit as many home runs as anyone since he entered MLB in 2019 (219, tied with the great Aaron Judge). But at the moment, anyway, I’m more concerned about Manaea considering Mets needs (more on that below).
The starting pitching market isn’t terrible. Aces Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and presumably Blake Snell are at the top, assuming Snell opts out of his deal, too, and Gerrit Cole remains a Yankee either by opting in or by the Yankees adding a year as allowed in his unusual contract. Other impactful starters who may also hit free agency include Nate Eovaldi, Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Nick Pivetta and the Mets’ own Luis Severino.
It’s a decent list, sure. But about 29 out of 30 teams will be seeking rotation help, so the demand will again easily outstrip the supply.
Manaea should be a priority. He leads Mets qualified starters in ERA, strikeouts and many more things. (Of course, they only have three qualified starters. But still, it’s worth noting.)
The other two are also free agents — Severino and Jose Quintana — leaving them with holes bigger than Baltimore’s bullpen. I’d bring back Severino, too, and prepare parting gifts for Quintana, who’s slowing down.
Everything was working for Manaea Wednesday, with the sweeper and changeup reasons one and two why the Orioles, one of baseball’s best hitting teams, mustered only three hits and whiffed nine times over seven innings. The perfect game became history when Manaea hit rookie Jackson Holliday, and the no-hitter and lead lost when Austin Slater homered on the next pitch.
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Manaea incorporates a vast mix of pitches to go with a fastball up to 96 mph, above average for lefty. He’s reinvented himself a few times. He thinks out there.
He’s New York tough. He took an 88.9-mph liner by Orioles superstar Gunnar Henderson, stayed in and said later it was no biggie.
He fits here. Over the All-Star break, Manaea was spotted playing catch in Central Park with a couple randos. Few players are more suitable for the “212” (and “718”).
“I love it, love everything about it — city, people, teammates, the organization — I love everything about it. Yeah, just want to keep going,” Manaea said.
Manaea was raised in Wanatah, Ind., population about 1,000. He wasn’t quite a prospect coming out of high school, then became the greatest pitcher in Indiana State history, to the point he was briefly considered a candidate for No. 1 pick overall.
After a late-college hip injury, he eventually became an ultra-worthy pick No. 34 in the 2013 draft by the Royals (two picks after Judge). His first three big-league stops were spent in California — San Diego and San Francisco followed his first several seasons in Oakland — after Kansas City sent him away for Ben Zobrist in their World Series-winning year. It’s all worked nicely, and along with Pivetta, he’s about the most successful starter in that otherwise fairly sparse draft.
I’ve occasionally run into Manaea on the subway back from Citi Field (those times when I write fast) and he looks like he even enjoys both the 7 and 4 trains. He lives in Midtown and is relishing all that’s offered here. He also told me he loved it in Oakland when he played there, so he obviously adapts. But hopefully, he’s found a home here.
