2 Mets free agents fattening their next contracts in the playoffs, 1 losing cash

A strong playoff performance can be the difference between Hulu with or without ads.

Championship Series - New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game 2
Championship Series - New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers - Game 2 | Katelyn Mulcahy/GettyImages
1 of 3

The first 162 regular season games are what feeds families. October baseball is where a player can determine if it’ll be drive-thru or something fancier like DoorDash delivery from that local Peruvian place with the bad parking situation. The New York Mets roster is filled with impending free agents who have a chance to eat pachamanca instead of chicken nuggets.

While the focus is on winning games and not necessarily fattening up their wallets just yet, the performance of two Mets in particular seems to have furthered their free agent cause. Meanwhile, there’s a third whose lackluster performance in October might have cost him some cash.

Mets pitcher Sean Manaea is going to feed his great grandchildren for life with his next contract

Sean Manaea has been brilliant through three postseason starts for the Mets. He is 2-0 with a 2.65 ERA in those 17 innings. In a time when starting pitchers have early hooks in the playoffs, Carlos Mendoza has wisely stuck with his best guy from the regular season. As long as he can keep his control, which is suspect at times, Manaea is on his way to cashing in even more this offseason after opting out of his contract and then rejecting the qualifying offer most definitely headed his way.

Manaea has gone the 5 minimum expected from a starter to qualify for the win each time out. He hasn’t been overused, limited to a maximum of 91 pitches in the team’s 7-2 win against the Philadelphia Phillies to take Game 3.

Yet to toss a completely clean game, it doesn’t hurt him much because of how little damage all three teams he has faced have mustered against him. The Milwaukee Brewers managed to get 6 hits against him in his 5 innings in Game 2. Since then, Manaea has allowed only 5 more hits in his next 12 innings.

An impressive regular season already had Manaea skyrocketing up the list of the best available starting pitchers this offseason. A strong October, that we hope continues, will earn him even more.

Schedule