Giants announce Manaea's two-year, $25M contract agreement originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
To fill their rotation, the Giants have turned to a very familiar face.
The Giants announced Friday that they officially agreed to a two-year, $25 million contract with former longtime Athletics starter Sean Manaea. The deal includes an opt-out after the 2023 MLB season.
The agreement initially was reported Sunday night by The New York Post's Jon Heyman.
Per the Giants, Manaea will receive $7.5 million in 2023 and $12.5 million in 2024. The deal includes a $5 million signing bonus.
Manaea, 30, spent his first six seasons in Oakland before getting traded to the San Diego Padres at the end of last spring. He had a 4.96 ERA and 4.53 FIP in San Diego, but as they have done so often in recent years, the Giants are going to bet on their pitching and analytics staff to get the most out of a veteran starter. Overall, the lefty has a 4.06 ERA in the big leagues.
Manaea will need to hit new heights with All-Star left Carlos Rodón reportedly agreeing a six-year, $162 million contract with the New York Yankees on Thursday. The Giants had not expected a reunion with Rodón, who was seeking a six- or seven-year deal, and at the MLB Winter Meetings last week, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said he felt his team would be looking for just one starter this offseason.
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Zaidi pointed out that one of the challenges right now is that every pitcher out there wants assurance he'll be in the rotation at the start of the season and likely all of it. Manaea, a starter throughout his big league career, joins a staff that already includes Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Anthony DeSclafani and the recently signed Ross Stripling. The Giants are confident in DeSclafani's rehab from ankle surgery, so barring a surprise over the next couple of months, they likely are done searching for established starters.
Asked last week about the rotation opening, Zaidi said the Giants wanted to "add somebody with as high of a ceiling as possible" and pointed out that the front office had more glaring needs to fill. Thus far, the Giants have brought back Joc Pederson, signed Mitch Haniger, broke the bank for superstar shortstop Carlos Correa and have filled out their rotation.
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The Giants starters led the Majors in FIP last year but got crushed by poor defense, so their emphasis this offseason has been on fixing that issue for the holdovers and whichever pitcher was added. The addition of Correa should help.
They were in on several who have already signed short-term deals, but this week, finally found the right fit.
