Sean Manaea
Re-signing Sean Manaea should be one of the Mets’ top priorities this off-season. The veteran Southpaw is coming off arguably the best season of his career and even received some down-ballot Cy Young votes. Not only is he a reliable veteran left-handed starter, but the Mets turned him around, and he can provide quality results along with volume.
Manaea made 31 starts while pitching a career-best 181.2 innings. His 3.47 ERA was another career-best. Manaea also had a quality 3.83 FIP and 1.08 WHIP. The lefty struck out batters at a 24.9% rate with an 8.5% walk percentage. His 1.04 HR/9 ratio was another peripheral that clocked in better than the league average.
Manaea made multiple changes to his game from 2023 to 2024. He lowered his arm angle significantly from 28 degrees to just 22 degrees. He changed up his pitch selection, and used his sinker as his primary pitch, the first time he has done that since 2021, which also happened to be the last time Manaea put up an ERA+ of 100 or greater. He also made alterations to the rest of his pitch mix.
Manaea will be 33 years young for the entirety of the 2025 campaign. MLB Trade Rumors currently ranks Manaea as the tenth-best free agent on the market this off-season, and he is projected to earn a three-year contract worth $60 million, coming out to an AAV worth $20 million.