Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Following the turmoil of Saturday’s potential trade between the Mets and Padres where Dominic Smith was nearly traded to San Diego for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagán and 2015 Mets villain Eric Hosmer, the Padres swung yet another deal for a star starting pitcher.
This time the Padres traded for A’s lefty Sean Manaea.
Manaea helps stabilize a rotation that features the likes of Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. (Mike Clevinger should return this year, too.) The Padres traded their 12th- and 26th-best prospects in infielder Euribiel Angeles and righty pitcher Adrian Martinez to Oakland.
The Padres also acquired right-handed reliever Aaron Holiday from the A’s in the deal.
New Padres skipper Bob Melvin now reunites with one of the best pitchers from the past couple of seasons. Manaea had a big year in 2021 pitching to a 3.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, a 3.66 FIP with 194 strikeouts in 179 1/3 innings pitched across an America League-high 32 starts with an 11-10 record.
Manaea broke onto the scene in 2018 but had an injury-shortened 2019 and a shortened season in 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic. The free-agent-to-be following the 2022 season will look to capture some of his 2021 greatness with his new, much more competitive team.
Manaea joins Chris Bassitt, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson as members of the 2021 A’s who were traded this offseason. Reports say the A’s have listened to offers on righty Frankie Montas, as well. He would likely gain the biggest haul of any of the A’s starters traded this offseason because he’s only 29 and has two years of team control remaining.
After this trade, the A’s payroll has shrunk to less than $33 million. Montas, Elvis Andrus and Stephen Piscotty are the only players making more than $5 million this season for the A’s.
