What does Manaea's future with Mets look like after career year?

LOS ANGELES -- Mets left-hander Sean Manaea tried fighting back the tears as he reflected on all his ballclub had accomplished during a surprise run to the National League Championship Series.

Manaea, who played a prominent role in the Mets defying expectations, appeared to run out of gas and went just two-plus innings in Sunday’s 10-5 elimination loss to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium.

Time will tell what comes next for Manaea and several other Mets whose futures are uncertain. Manaea has a $13.5 million player option for 2025, making him a prime opt-out candidate following a career year.

New York seems likely to extend him a qualifying offer (which ESPN recently reported will be worth $21.05 million for one year) and less likely to negotiate a long-term deal, something president of baseball operations David Stearns isn’t typically keen on doing for a starting pitcher who will be in his age-33 season.

“I don't really have [any] control over that right now, or not even thinking about it,” Manaea said after allowing five runs on six hits and two walks Sunday. “I love my time here. I love New York. I love the organization. I love all the people here. Definitely give it a couple of days, let the body rest and then we'll go from there.”

The case for Manaea is an interesting one.

Signed last offseason as a reclamation project with a league average ERA+ of 100, the veteran Manaea reinvented himself midseason by increasing his sinker/sweeper usage and revamping his arm angle. The results were career-altering.

Manaea posted a 3.09 ERA and a .170 average against in 12 regular-season starts after debuting the new delivery on July 30. He took on the duty of ace and proved to be one of the Majors’ best pitchers. From July until the end of the regular season, he ranked second in the Majors in quality starts (12), first in innings (105 1/3), sixth in strikeouts (108) and sixth in WHIP (0.93).

“Definitely the best one of my career,” Manaea said of his season. “Super proud of all the work I was able to put in with everybody here on and off the field, and just super proud of this whole year as whole.”

With 2023 All-Star Kodai Senga sidelined, Manaea, alongisde fellow southpaws Jose Quintana (3.18 ERA) and David Peterson (2.79 ERA) as well as righties Luis Severino (4.11 ERA) and Tylor Megill (3.00 ERA), stepped up in the second half.

Like Manaea, Quintana and Severino are also poised to become free agents.

“How they got together, and the pitching staff, and they worked so hard to get us to where we are, and the offense and defense, what everybody did to help us get here, we're proud of it,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “And when it comes to those guys, they're my brothers. I wish them nothing but the best, and hopefully they maximize everything they want.”

But Manaea couldn’t recreate his second-half success on Sunday to force a winner-take-all Game 7.

Shohei Ohtani, who went hitless with two strikeouts against Manaea in Monday’s Game 2 Mets victory, led off with a single. Three batters later, Tommy Edman delivered a two-run double, then tacked on a two-run homer in the third en route to being named NLCS MVP. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza abruptly pulled Manaea after just six outs and 64 pitches.

"Our righties had a tough time against him last time,” Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy said. “He was getting the ball inside on us. We changed our game plan from last time, and we made him work a lot. We made him throw a lot of pitches, tired him out. We got some chaos on the bases, and that was huge for us. We made a simple game plan change, and it worked out really well."

Perhaps the workload finally caught up to Manaea, who admitted to hitting a wall during the sixth inning of his Game 2 win. He recorded more starts (36) than any other Major League pitcher and finished with the eighth-most frames (200 2/3) when including the postseason. His total innings were 83 more than he threw in 2023.

That type of workload should only boost Manaea’s stock this Hot Stove season. He is a proven workhorse and postseason arm.

“I feel good,” Manaea said. “I came out of the game feeling healthy, so that's all I can ask for.”