3 NY Mets-Red Sox free agent bidding wars we could see that don’t involve Juan Soto

2) Sean Manaea

Let’s say the Mets do get Soto. What does it mean for the pitching staff? Sean Manaea is someone the Mets could afford to bring back as a Burnes alternative. Much less accomplished but coming off of a very good year, there are no qualifying offer penalties associated with him if the Mets were to bring him back. Boston, on the other hand, would be punished with loss of draft picks, etc. for signing him. Manaea had a good year but looking at him independently outside of a Mets perspective, he might not be quite worth the penalties that come with signing him depending on what your team’s punishment is.

Manaea should get paid somewhere in the same ballpark as Yusei Kikuchi whose three-year deal worth $63 million helped set the market for pitchers in their tier. Significantly less than what Blake Snell got from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manaea much more closely matches up with a pitcher of Kikuchi’s ilk.

The Red Sox have already reportedly had an interest in adding a left-handed starting pitcher to their roster; something they didn’t have last season. Manaea is one of the better options remaining and won’t cost nearly as much as fellow southpaw Max Fried.