A better way to think about the troubling NY Mets contract with Sean Manaea

Trends come and go. One of the hottest right now seems to be front and center in the way the New York Mets think. Other than Juan Soto, an outlier in many regards, they aren’t signing anyone long-term. Even he has a deal they can opt out of after 5 years.

The Mets have been masters of the short-term, high AAV contract. When David Stearns was still a twinkle in our eyes, they handed them to Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Granted, they were older players. Right now the trend seems to include players in their prime years settling for a shorter deal and getting paid a ridiculous amount for a season or two. The Mets dished one out to Bo Bichette. On a smaller scale, they overpaid Jorge Polanco for two seasons on a contract total that probably made more sense over three years.

This can give us a new way to look at Sean Manaea. Year one on his new contract raised a lot of doubts. Looking at it in a different way can help us better appreciate what the Mets tried to accomplish with their 3-year deal worth $75 million. It’s about getting punished financially if things go wrong in a worse way while being able to take fewer lumps in terms of years.

Sean Manaea’s Mets contract is highly-priced, but it’s better than the alternative

$75 million spread out over four years is $18.75 million which is far more appealing on a year-to-year basis. $18.75 million on a 36-year-old Manaea in 2028 is the price the Mets would have had to pay.

The Mets’ avoidance of any new long contracts, and even the elimination of the one Brandon Nimmo signed after the 2022 season, has set them up brilliantly to escape a roster full of overpriced, aging players. They’ll inevitably have a few of those. It’s inescapable.

With Manaea, we’re still feeling the pain of what he did (or didn’t do) in 2025. If his 2024 performance was truly an apparition and he’s just catfishing the Mets now, we’ll be happy that it’s over quickly. After all, it’s not your money directly paying him what he’s earning.

Under Steve Cohen, the advantage has always been spending power. Regular mammoth $300 deals haven’t been a part of the deal. It’s the contracts we’ve actually seen run out.

The Taijuan Walker deal the Philadelphia Phillies have on their books is a fine example of overstaying a welcome. He’s now on year four and although he had a less tragic year in 2025 than he did in 2024, think about the benefit of having his $18 million cleared even if it was divided with $6 million more in each of the last three seasons. The landscape of MLB salaries is always changing, Walker’s contract not including deferrals like Manaea’s.

New York never intended for 2025 to be a painful one in regards to Manaea. Avoiding the fourth year was the goal. And if this continues to whip us, we’ll be grateful they structured the deal the way they did.