New York Mets re-sign Sean Manaea

This had been tentatively felt for some time, as the deal Sean Manaea could get to return to the New York Mets was always likely to be higher than any other club would be willing to spend, considering appendix one Draft pick compensation.

So the 32-year-old left-hander, who was quite good with the Mets in 2024, gets a significant deal for his return:

OVERNIGHT: Manaea to Mets, 75M, 3 years pending physical

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— Jon Heyman (@jonheyman.bsky.social) December 23, 2024 at 6:34 am

That’s a deal that I think makes sense in the overcooked market for starting pitchers, and Manaea’s 2024 season was certainly worthy of that value. I guess I’m just thinking about how Manaea’s ERA was 9% worse than league average in the four years prior to 2024, according to ERA. Which guy are you buying for $25 million apiece for his age 33-35 season?

But the Mets have a lot of money thanks to the generosity of team owner Steve Cohen, and with a monstrous commitment to Juan Soto, they have no excuse for not filling out the rotation to the best of their ability. It makes sense to bring Manaea back after his success as a Met. Good for Manaea’s reps for squeezing.

We’ll see if this further drives the pitching market before Christmas or in the partial week between Christmas and New Year. We know the Cubs are looking, and while they wouldn’t have been on Manaea, you never know when there might have been overlap between suitors and other people of interest to the Cubs.

(How good does Jameson Taillon’s two years and $36 million look at this tier of pitchers right now? Taillon is the same age as Manaea and is in roughly the same performance group – but Taillon was better in 2024 and better in 2024. I’m not comparing them, though pitcher, but just think about what Taillon’s free agency would look like now.)