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

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.

Surprisingly amazing Mets starter Jose Quintana can start a tab on the extra guac when he goes out to eat next

If you were ready to launch Jose Quintana off of the Mets roster or at least into the bullpen back in August, you weren’t alone. He seemed to hit a wall. A very up and down pitcher for much of the season, Quintana figured it out in late August and has been one of the game’s best pitchers since. He won’t get paid a massive contract, but a one or two-year deal with a bump in salary for inflation should be in the works.

Two starts into his postseason experience with the Mets, Quintana has yet to allow an earned run. He hasn’t allowed much at all. A strikeout per inning, a .150 batting average against, and a 0.82 WHIP help to highlight the success. 

Quintana doesn’t overpower batters. There’s something crafty about the way he works. While teammates like Manaea, Luis Severino, and most of the members of the bullpen look like every muscle, tendon, and fascia are at work with each pitch, this veteran lefty has relied on his changeup for most of his whiffs. A rate of 36.2% in the regular season to go along with a curveball and slurve both averaging below 80mph, he’s more sniper than machine gun.

The way Quintana has carried over his regular season success late into the postseason has been one of the more helpful events to keep the Mets alive this long. Who would’ve guessed in August this would be a possibility? It’ll be up to him to stop the flow of tears in Game 4.