Inside The Mets

Mets' Free Agent Ace Sean Manaea Predicted to Join AL Contender's Rotation

Former New York Mets ace Sean Manaea could be headed to an elite AL team this winter.
Grant Young|
Oct 14, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea (59) greets teammates in the dugout after being relieved in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game two of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Oct 14, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea (59) greets teammates in the dugout after being relieved in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game two of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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The New York Mets have already made one move to address losing three pitchers (Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and Jose Quintana) to free agency this offseason.

That move was signing Frankie Montas, who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers last season. While this is a solid signing that makes sense for New York, the expectation is that David Stearns will remain active in trying to acquire an ace to his team's rotation.

There's also a chance that the Mets will try to re-sign any of those aforementioned three pitchers they had in 2024; particularly Manaea, who had an excellent season and was a crucial part of New York making it to the NLCS.

However, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter predicted that Manaea would instead join the Baltimore Orioles' 2025 starting rotation in a December 4 article.

"Losing Corbin Burnes is a blow for the Orioles, but they could do a lot worse than replacing him with left-hander Sean Manaea. The 32-year-old had a 3.47 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 184 strikeouts in 181.2 innings, and he rattled off a stretch of nine quality starts in 11 outings during the second half," Reuter wrote after projecting Manaea would be Baltimore's second starter.

While losing Manea is not ideal, Mets fans can take solace in the fact that Rueter projected Corbin Burnes would be headed to Queens. This essentially means that he believes Manaea and Burnes will swap teams in 2025.

It will be fascinating to see how the starting pitcher market begins to move after the Winter Meetings, which begin in Dallas on December 8.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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