Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Position: SP
Bats/Throws: R/L
Date of Birth: 2/1/1992 (29)

Traditional Stats: 32 GS, 11-10, 3.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 194 K, 179 IP
Advanced Stats: 3.4 WAR, 3.66 FIP, 104 ERA+, 5.4 BB%, 25.7 K%

Rundown

The New York Mets’ 2021 starting rotation is starting to come together, but it’s certainly missing one or two more pieces.

The top is loaded with one of the best duos in the game in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. Behind them, Taijuan Walker and Carlos Carrasco are a bit of a question mark and the fifth spot seems to be still up for grabs.

General Manager Billy Eppler certainly made it seem like they’ll be adding one, maybe two, more starting pitchers to the mix before the beginning of the season. With the current group full of right-handers, they should be looking to add at least one lefty.

The free-agent market still has some talented southpaws, such as Carlos Rodon and Yusei Kikuchi, but the Mets should also take a look at what’s available in trades. In particular, they should give the Oakland Athletics a call about Sean Manaea.The Valparaiso, Indiana native was considered one of the top prospects heading into the 2013 MLB Draft. He was scouted by the Houston Astros, who held the top overall selection that year.

Manaea suffered a hip injury and ended up falling to the Kansas City Royals, who held the 34th pick. He was forced to undergo surgery for a torn labrum and ended up not throwing a pitch during the 2013 season. He returned to the mound healthy and put together a strong first professional season in the Royals organization the following year. Manaea threw just 121 innings but posted a 3.11 ERA and led the league with 146 strikeouts.

During 2015, Manaea was traded to the Oakland Athletics along with Aaron Brooks in exchange for Ben Zobrist. He made seven starts with their Double-A affiliate to close out the year, posting a solid 1.90 ERA with 51 punchouts.

He began the 2016 season in Triple-A and was promoted to make his big-league debut after just four starts. Manaea pitched five innings and allowed four runs on four hits and struck out three against the Astros in his first MLB outing.

From there, he took off. Manaea pitched to a 3.86 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 4.08 FIP, and recorded 124 strikeouts over 144 innings during his rookie campaign. His 34.9% chase rate is a career-high and was good enough to finish in the 94th percentile in all of baseball.

Over the next two seasons, he made a combined 56 starts and posted a 3.97 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 248 strikeouts. He only issued 2.5 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 over that span, all while recording a 4.18 FIP. In April of 2018, Manaea no-hit the Boston Red Sox, striking out 10 and walking just two. He was the first Athletics pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Dallas Braden’s Mothers Day perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010.

His 2018 season came to an early end due to a shoulder injury, which forced him to miss the majority of 2019. Manaea made his season debut in September and ended up making five starts, going 4-0 with 30 strikeouts and a 1.21 ERA over 29 innings. The lefty made 11 starts during the 2020 pandemic-shortened season and pitched relatively well. In 54 innings, Manaea recorded a 4.50 ERA with a 1.20 WHIP, a 3.42 FIP, and 45 strikeouts.

This past season was one of the best of the southpaw’s six-year big-league career. He stayed relatively healthy, making a career-high and league-leading 32 starts, as well as recording a pair of complete-game shutouts.

Manaea finished the year 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 3.66 FIP, and set career highs with 194 strikeouts and an average of 9.7 K/9 innings. He also issued just 2.1 BB/9 and allowed a meager 1.3 HR/9.

Like his teammate Chris Bassitt, who I highlighted last month, Manaea is one of the more underrated pitchers in the game today. He relies on a nice three-pitch mix of sinker, changeup, and curveball.

He throws his sinker 60% of the time and recorded a 19.5% put away percentage with the pitch last season. Manaea is just 29 years old, doesn’t have a ton of mileage on his arm, and is coming off a career year.

Package

Manaea is certainly going to be a hot commodity on the trade market. As I mentioned above, the talented left-hander is just 29 years old, is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility, and is projected to make only $10.2 million.

Manaea is not just a great fit for the Mets, but numerous teams out there, including the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Mariners, and others.

With that being said, the package shouldn’t be all too crazy to acquire him.

It is very well known around baseball that the Athletics are open for business and looking to shed salary this offseason. The pending free agent could, and very well should, be one of the most likely pieces to be moved prior to the season.

Oakland could be looking for a cheap, controllable major league caliber player; Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith, or J.D. Davis in return. It may take at least one or two prospects along with any of those players to get a deal done.

However, the big and most attractive thing with a Manaea deal is that it likely wouldn’t cost the Mets any of their top-tier prospects. With Steve Cohen’s wallet, the Mets could also look to take on some salary from the A’s to try and lighten the prospect load even more.

My Thoughts

Whether it be Manaea, Rodón, Kikuchi, or even Clayton Kershaw, I am definitely all-in on the idea that the Mets should look to add at least one quality left-handed starter to the backend of this rotation.

David Peterson is a decent young big-league arm, but let’s be honest, the Mets are a better team with him serving as a depth option rather than pitching big innings for the rotation. The same can be said for the likes of Tylor Megill and Jordan Yamamoto.

The injury risks come with both Rodón and Kershaw, and Kikuchi has some upside but could be hit-or-miss. I feel at the low price he will likely cost, the Mets should definitely take a long look at Manaea. The advanced metrics aren’t anything to write home about, but he’s a quality arm for any big-league rotation. At his worst, he is just a serviceable arm, however as he showed last season, Manaea has breakout potential. 

Manaea made a career-high and league-leading 32 starts last season, pitching a total of 179 innings. His 25.7% K-rate was the second-highest in his career, and was 4.7% higher than his average for his career.

I truly believe Manaea is one of the more underrated starters in the game today. The talented southpaw would be a very solid piece to help finish off this starting rotation.