Every move made by a Major League Baseball team has implications that stretch far beyond the players involved, and the New York Mets’ most recent signing is no exception.
Just before Christmas, the Mets re-signed left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea to a three-year, $75 million contract extension. It was the present many Mets fans were hoping for, and it went a long way toward shoring up the 2025 rotation.
But what does that mean for another lefty in the 2024 Mets rotation, José Quintana?
Quintana’s two-year tenure in New York went far better than most expected, and he was nails for the Mets during the stretch run, propelling them into a playoff spot. But now that Manaea is back in the fold, it’s hard to project where Quintana would fit into this rotation.
On Tuesday, FanSided’s Zachary Rotman predicted that Manaea’s extension would spell the end for Quintana in Queens.
“Where is (Quintana) going to slot in, especially now that Manaea is back?” Rotman said. “Manaea is joined by Kodai Senga and David Peterson, as well as newcomers Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes in a completely revamped rotation.”
“The Mets might still add another starting pitcher for the right price (like Roki Sasaki), but barring that, Manaea feels like the last rotation addition, making it almost certain that Quintana has thrown his last pitch in a Mets uniform.”
Quintana, 35, finished the 2024 season with a 10-10 record and 3.75 ERA over 170 1/3 innings pitched. He had a 0.74 ERA in his final six starts of the regular season, without which the Mets likely wouldn’t have made it to October.
After finishing up his two-year, $26 million contract, Quintana may be destined to sign one-year deals from this point forward. But he’d prove more than worth the investment to his next team if he could keep up his production from 2024.
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