Last winter, Sean Manaea signed a one-year prove-it contract with the Mets. He proved that he was still capable of fulfilling the promise of becoming a solid front-end rotation option, parlaying a career year into a longer deal with the team that he thrived on last year.
The Mets reintroduced the popular left-hander Monday afternoon in a Zoom conference, officially announcing his three-year, $75 million contract. Though he had other teams that reached out to him, since the last day of the season when he fought back tears in the Dodger Stadium visitor’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 said. “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 be 33 on Feb. 1, went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA and a 3.83 FIP over 32 starts with the Mets last season. The lefty received Cy Young Award votes for his efforts, finishing 11th in the NL race, finding success with a refined sweeper and a fastball thrown from a lower arm slot. The sweeper was his own addition, something he taught himself after looking at grips on YouTube one night during his time with the San Francisco Giants.
Lowering the release point of his fastball was something he worked on with Hefner. Manaea loves nothing more than experimenting with various pitches and grips in the bullpen and in Hefner, he found a coach that supported the experimentation and helped turn some of the tinkering into viable pitches.
“He kind of allowed me to be like myself and kind of experiment with some things,” Manaea said. “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 also felt at ease immediately in a new market. The Indiana native had spent his entire career in California until last season and his laid-back, yet curious demeanor seemed to be a perfect fit for the West Coast. But in New York, Manaea and his wife enjoyed the vibrant culture in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs. He found enjoyment in his daily subway commute, listening to music on the 7 train to get geared up for games. Though he has yet to find one of the infamous subway platform chess games, he’s still hoping to join one someday.
In the clubhouse, his veteran voice was respected. The Mets excelled last season in part because of a clubhouse culture that not only allows players to show their personalities but encourages them to as well. Manaea doesn’t like to take credit as a leader, respecting Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo as unofficial captains, but he encouraged the starting pitching group to support one another late in the season and during the postseason. He started wearing the number of the game’s starter in eye black and dancing with the pitchers in the dugout after they came out of games.
The culture was one that allowed him to thrive, factoring heavily into his decision 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 said “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 back to the Mets also reunites Manaea with right-hander Frankie Montas, his close friend and former teammate in Oakland.
Manaea sees someone who can add to that clubhouse culture.
“He is a funny guy and he’s definitely very passionate about pitching and competitiveness,” Manaea said. “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.”
More than anything Manaea seems to be happy that he can put down roots with his new wife in a place they enjoy with a three-year contract. He’s continuing to work with Driveline at their Florida location and rejoins a group headlined by Kodai Senga and left-hander David Peterson. He’s also worked out with free agent first baseman Pete Alonso and would like to see the Polar Bear return to Queens as well.
The starting rotation is set, and with Manaea, the culture is too.