5 NY Mets offseason twists we shouldn’t completely rule out

Five twists the Mets offseason that aren't completely impossible.
2025 Little League Classic: Seattle Mariners v New York Mets
2025 Little League Classic: Seattle Mariners v New York Mets | Aliza Chambers/GettyImages
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4) The Mets find a way to trade Sean Manaea in a bad contract swap

All of the trade buzz about the Mets this offseason has been focused on Kodai Senga and some mild-mannered speculation about David Peterson. What about Sean Manaea? With $25 million owed over each of the next two seasons, he’s probably someone the Mets wouldn’t mind moving on from with the way things went last season and their goals for this offseason. The trouble is finding a taker. What if there is a bad contract swap out there to execute?

Early in the offseason, Rising Apple’s Stephen Parello took a deeper dive into a MLB Trade Rumors’ speculative trade to send Manaea to the Houston Astros for Christian Walker. Sensible on some levels still, the Astros might have less interest in Manaea. They would probably still like to move on from Walker.

The premium price on starting pitching should have teams at least considering what acquiring Manaea could do for them. If they can get the Mets to eat a part of the contract, even better.

Because Manaea was so good for the Mets in 2024 and injuries can be partly to blame for last year’s failures, they might prefer to test the waters and see what he can accomplish. He has been a popular teammate, offering guidance to the young pitchers.

The kind of trade that might work best would be for Manaea to go to a team in exchange for a first baseman, outfielder, or DH. Manaea for Giancarlo Stanton would be the juiciest conclusion.

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