Mets left-hander Sean Manaea is opting out of his contract and will explore free agency, according to multiple reports.
Manaea was due to make $13.5 million in 2025 and will seek a multi-year deal on the open market.
The move doesn’t come as a surprise as Manaea, 32, had a bounce back year in his first season in Queens, posting a 12-6 record and a 3.47 ERA over 32 starts to become the de facto ace of the staff, especially in the second half of the season when he dropped his arm angle in July.
Since then, Manaea allowed more than three runs just three times in his final 17 starts.
That effectiveness carried over into the postseason where he pitched four games, allowing a total of 10 earned runs over 19 innings. Unfortunately, five of those runs came in the deciding Game 6 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Mets will likely extend a qualifying offer — worth $21.05 million for one year — and if Manea declines it, which is likely, the Mets would then receive draft compensation if he were to sign elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean Manaea won’t be back in a Mets uniform in 2025 and beyond. After the Mets’ season was over, Manaea said he would love to return to New York.
“I have no control over that right now and I’m not really thinking about it,” he said of his future. “But I’ve loved my time here. I love New York, the organization and all the people here, so I’d definitely love to be back.”
The Mets’ 2025 rotation is currently in flux.
Luis Severino is now a free agent alongside Manaea, which leaves Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn — who is recovering from back surgery — as the only arms who started for the Mets in 2024 under contract next season.
Teams have until five days after the World Series ends (Monday, Nov. 4) to make qualifying offers and players have one week to decide to take them or not.
