Mets lefty rejects qualifying offer

Left-hander Sean Manaea will reject the $21.05M qualifying offer that was extended to him by the Mets, per Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. 

As noted by Gonzalez, the news doesn’t come as a surprise. Manaea never really seemed like a candidate to accept the offer. He has a lengthy track record of major league success, with an earned run average of 4.00 in almost 1,184.1 innings, and is coming off one of his best seasons.

Manaea signed with the Mets last offseason, a two-year deal with a $28M guarantee but an opt-out midway through. The lefty would make $14.5M in 2024 and then have to decide whether or not to walk away from a $13.5M salary for 2025.

He eventually made 32 starts for the Mets in his age-32 season, logging 181 2/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA. As noted by MLBTR’s Steve Adams, Manaea had altered his arm slot and pregame workout midseason, which seemingly made him even stronger as the year went along. Over his last 20 starts, he posted a 3.05 ERA while pairing a 26% strikeout rate with an 8% walk rate. He also made four postseason starts with the Mets as they pushed as far as Game 6 of the NLCS.

That strong performance made it an easy decision for Manaea to opt-out and return to free agency in search of a larger guarantee. It also wasn’t tough for the Mets to issue the QO, knowing that Manaea could reject it and still have plenty of suitors in free agency. MLBTR predicted Manaea for a $60M deal over three years, even with the QO attached.

The Mets will now be in line to receive modest compensation if Manaea signs with another club. As competitive balance tax payors, they will receive a pick after the fourth round of the upcoming draft. The signing club will also be subject to a penalty, though the specifics of that will depend upon whether the signing club was a tax payor or revenue sharing recipient.