Final winter, Sean Manaea signed a one-year prove-it contract with the Mets. He proved that he was nonetheless able to fulfilling the promise of changing into a strong front-end rotation choice, parlaying a profession yr into an extended cope with the staff that he thrived on final yr.
The Mets reintroduced the favored left-hander Monday afternoon in a Zoom convention, formally saying his three-year, $75 million contract. Although he had different groups that reached out to him, for the reason that final day of the season when he fought again tears within the Dodger Stadium customer’s clubhouse, the reunion with the Mets felt destined.
“Based off last year with the coaching staff and everything, I thought it was a perfect fit,” Manea mentioned. “My wife, she loved it on the family side as well. Just organizationally, I thought they did a lot of great things and I learned a lot from [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] and the rest of the staff. Just overall, I was very, very happy with my time there, and when [the Mets] reached out and said that they wanted to reunite, I knew that was kind of a top priority.”
Manaea, who will probably be 33 on Feb. 1, went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA and a 3.83 FIP over 32 begins with the Mets final season. The lefty obtained Cy Younger Award votes for his efforts, ending eleventh within the NL race, discovering success with a refined sweeper and a fastball thrown from a decrease arm slot. The sweeper was his personal addition, one thing he taught himself after grips on YouTube one evening throughout his time with the San Francisco Giants.
Decreasing the discharge level of his fastball was one thing he labored on with Hefner. Manaea loves nothing greater than experimenting with numerous pitches and grips within the bullpen and in Hefner, he discovered a coach that supported the experimentation and helped flip a few of the tinkering into viable pitches.
“He kind of allowed me to be like myself and kind of experiment with some things,” Manaea mentioned. “Just kind of bouncing ideas off of him, and he’s very easy to talk to as far as pitching and pitch design. All these different things that, you know, have to do with pitching, he just made everything feel super easy.”
Manaea additionally felt relaxed instantly in a brand new market. The Indiana native had spent his complete profession in California till final season and his laid-back, but curious demeanor appeared to be an ideal match for the West Coast. However in New York, Manaea and his spouse loved the colourful tradition in Manhattan and the encompassing boroughs. He discovered enjoyment in his every day subway commute, listening to music on the 7 practice to get equipped for video games. Although he has but to search out one of many notorious subway platform chess video games, he’s nonetheless hoping to affix one sometime.
Within the clubhouse, his veteran voice was revered. The Mets excelled final season partly due to a clubhouse tradition that not solely permits gamers to indicate their personalities however encourages them to as properly. Manaea doesn’t wish to take credit score as a pacesetter, respecting Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo as unofficial captains, however he inspired the beginning pitching group to help each other late within the season and in the course of the postseason. He began sporting the variety of the sport’s starter in eye black and dancing with the pitchers within the dugout after they got here out of video games.
The tradition was one which allowed him to thrive, factoring closely into his resolution to return to the Mets.
“I’m not going to say I’m like the leader or anything like that, I think it’s kind of like a collective,” Manaea mentioned “That’s kind of like the strength that we had going on. It wasn’t like one singular guy was the leader of the group. I feel like, when it was our start date, that was the day, and you know, just passed the torch onto the next guy. And last year, that’s what happened.”
Coming again to the Mets additionally reunites Manaea with right-hander Frankie Montas, his shut pal and former teammate in Oakland.
Manaea sees somebody who can add to that clubhouse tradition.
“He is a funny guy and he’s definitely very passionate about pitching and competitiveness,” Manaea mentioned. “He just goes out there and is a dog, so I’m looking forward to that. And, I mean, his stuff is incredible too, so he brings all that stuff to the table, and he’s just a great human being and a great friend, so you’ve got that going as well.
“I’m just very happy that he’s on our team now.”
Greater than something Manaea appears to be completely satisfied that he can put down roots together with his new spouse in a spot they take pleasure in with a three-year contract. He’s persevering with to work with Driveline at their Florida location and rejoins a gaggle headlined by Kodai Senga and left-hander David Peterson. He’s additionally labored out with free agent first baseman Pete Alonso and want to see the Polar Bear return to Queens as properly.
The beginning rotation is about, and with Manaea, the tradition is just too.
Initially Printed: January 13, 2025 at 6:51 PM EST
