The Mets have activated left-hander Sean Manaea from the 60-day injured list for his season debut. Right-hander Austin Warren was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move, and the Mets already had a vacant 40-man spot for Manaea to take over.
Manaea, 33, has been sidelined all season by an oblique strain and a loose body in his left elbow. He’s now back and ready to resume pitching for a Mets club that’s in a tight battle with the Phillies over control for the NL East, though as noted by MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo he’s slated to pitch in relief of Clay Holmes in his return to the mound today before shifting into a rotation role in the future. The lefty’s rehab starts this season have left something to be desired, as he’s pitched to a 6.27 ERA in 18 2/3 innings of work. Even so, his return should be a major boost for the Mets rotation given that he was their major expenditure on the starting pitching market this past offseason.
That three-year, $75MM guarantee from the Mets is more than justified by his performance last year. The veteran lefty delivered a sterling performance in his first season with New York, where he pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 181 2/3 innings of work while making 32 starts and striking out 24.9% of his opponents. Manaea’s return means that the Mets’ on-paper starting rotation entering the 2025 campaign will be fully healthy for the first time when they return from the All-Star break, as Kodai Senga and Frankie Montas have both recently returned from their IL stints of their own that kept them sidelined for much of the first half.
That trio joins Clay Holmes and David Peterson to round out the Mets’ rotation, and now that the group is fully healthy the club’s need for additional starting pitching help is greatly reduced. Even so, the losses of Griffin Canning, Paul Blackburn, and Tylor Megill to the injured list mean that the Mets are likely to be in the market for some sort of starting pitching help, whether it’s a front-of-the-rotation arm who allows them to utilize a six-man rotation or a depth starter who can swing between the bullpen and rotation as needed. There figures to be plenty of demand for starting pitching, however, and with other clubs like the Cubs, Astros, and Blue Jays likely to be very aggressive on that front it could behoove the Mets to look more towards other areas of the roster as they look for upgrades this trade season, so long as they’re confident in the health of their current group of starters.
As for Warren, the 29-year-old righty has a 1.69 ERA in four appearances for the Mets this season. He’s pitched for the Angels and Giants as well across his five seasons in the majors, and has totaled a 3.00 ERA in 54 innings of work since making his debut back in 2021. He’ll head back to the minor leagues, where he has a career 3.98 ERA and a 26.1% strikeout rate in five seasons of work at Triple-A, and wait for his next opportunity.
Big boost if he can still be a mid rotation starter.
The Mets hope he’s going to be the Savior
Not the savior. But his return should bring some [more] stability to what has been a very unstable rotation for the past month. Senga, Montas, and Manaea all returning within such a short window represents a very big upgrade overall to what they were cobbling together before.
Savior of what? lol They’re in first place and have three potential aces in the upper minors.
I wonder what the odds are of the Mets being aggressive in their development and calling up Nolan McLean to round out a six man rotation. I’m not necessarily advocating for it but they were aggressive with Christian Scott, though Scott was a little better.
He’s got 9 starts (11 overall appearances) at AAA with a 2.57 ERA in 60+ innings after being dominant for a handful of starts in AA. 1.154 WHIP, 9.6 K/9. Last two outings, 10 Ks apiece over 11 innings total with only two earned runs. If he turns in a few more starts like that, it’ll be hard to ignore him as an option.
There are other variables that will affect that decision, so its hard to parse that out right now. I believe I’d read somewhere that the schedule will not present a need for them to use 6-man the rest of the way. That said, injuries always loom large, Blackburn looks like a total bust, and there are a couple of pitchers for whom innings may become an issue.
Stearns has been clear that he won’t call a pitching prospect up just to call him up. There has to be a need, or the pitcher has to clearly be ready.
At the moment, the focus is on the seeing the what new, finally healthy rotation looks like, and the trade deadline
Good analysis by rtc and geofft.
Stearns is a really good exec but he hasn’t always played the trade deadline well. Dealing away Hader a few years ago was really a gut-punch to that Brewer team.
That said, I think that experience was informative for him about the value of clubhouse chemistry. Plus (and this is probably the more important point) he is now with a club that hardly has to think about payroll limitations.
I’m gonna guess that he will deal for a back-end rental to support rotational depth, and if more injuries happen, Tidwell, Sproat, and McLean (probably in that order) will get cracks at starting.
More importantly, the Mets MUST get a least one more arm in the pen, preferably a lefty. And a center fielder who can hit (again, preferably a lefty) would be peachy, too. The bullpen help should be a slam dunk, but finding a center fielder and then paying the prospect price for him looks really tough.
Alex Call of the Nats for CF? Not a lefty, but you can’t always get what you want.
Sterns has brought up young guys in the past to join the bullpen before they crack the rotation. It wouldn’t shock me to see both Sproat and Mclean in the pen by late August, with Tong being promoted to AAA.
Is Big Tiddy really much of a starting prospect? I can see him as a back of the bullpen guy,
Holmes & Senga really need to manage their innings to have anything left in October. Bringing up some kids for the 2nd half isn’t the worst idea. Stern has a history of doing that.
Scott wasn’t better than McLean, Sproat or Tong. I think the Mets are trying hard not to hype them up and making them into Generation K 2.0.
“Scott wasn’t better than McLean, Sproat or Tong.”
Statistically speaking, he was better than McLean or Sproat. Can’t say anything about Tong because he hasn’t hit AAA yet, but Scott was dominant at Syracuse. 0.969 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9, 11.7 K/9 in nine starts. Vs McLean: 1.15 WHIP, 3.9 BB/9, 9.6 K/9 in nine starts. Sproat: 1.338 WHIP, 4.2 BB/9, 6.9 K/9 in 18 starts.
I will say, though that McLean and Sproat are turning it on. Mentioned above but McLean has back-to-back 10 K starts. Sproat has not allowed a run in his last three starts. I definitely agree that the Mets are taking a quieter approach and not hyping these guys.
They should of kept Warren in the BP and option Brazoban down
Great come back outing for Manaea. Looked dominant out there. If he stays pitching like this it’d be like acquiring a TOR starter for the stretch.
And of course as soon as I post that the Mets lose the game lol. Still a promising return from the il.
Yeah, tough break at the end there but he looked great in his first appearance. Royals looked fooled a lot (until they weren’t).
Manaea looked great for his first three innings, but I knew it was trouble once Tolbert got on. Still it’s a great sign for the stretch run.
Im happy for manea. I thought it was a mistake to bring him in before the all star break. Figured skip the one start for extra rest was the best way to go but they both looked pretty good.