What do the Mets need from Sean Manaea in 2026?
Plus, the Mets Spring Breakout roster was revealed, and Jorge Polanco made his debut at first base on Thursday
What’s Up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets fell to the Nationals by a score of 7-4 (box)
RHP Justin Hagenman pitched three innings and gave up two runs while striking out four
RF Brett Baty got the start in the outfield and went 1-for-3 with an opposite field home run and two RBIs
3B Bo Bichette went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a RBI on his 28th birthday
1B Jorge Polanco got some work in at first base and went 1-for-2 with a walk at the plate
Prospect Ryan Clifford walked twice in his two plate appearances and also scored a run
3B Jacob Reimer, OF AJ Ewing, and OF Ryan Clifford will play in the Spring Breakout game on March 19 which will feature the top prospects in the game (MLB.com)
LHP Sean Manaea and RHP Kodai Senga will make their first starts of spring this weekend
Injury Updates 🏥
SS Francisco Lindor (recovery from left hamate bone surgery) believes he will be ready for Opening Day (NY Post)
Thursday, March 5:
No Mets participated in any of the games played on March 5. The majority of games will get underway on March 6
Schedule | Standings | Scores
What I’m Reading 📰
RHP Robert Stock built his on analytics platform with the help of AI to help him better understand ways to improve (Newsday)
Team USA is ranked as the top team heading into the World Baseball Classic but there are other formidable opponents (ESPN)
The Dominican Republic has a stacked lineup that manager Albert Pujols believes is the best they have ever had (MLB.com)
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In the latest episode of The Just Mets Podcast, Rich and Andrew react to six big spring training headlines and share an exciting update about the future of the podcast.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Today’s Game 🏝️
Match-up: Mets (5-4) at Marlins (5-6)
Where: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium - Jupiter, FL
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Max Meyer (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: N/A
What the Mets need from Sean Manaea in 2026 as he makes his spring debut today ✍️
Sean Manaea is set to make his spring debut against the Marlins today, and it is the first step in getting the lefty back on track after a lost season in 2025.
Last season, he appeared in just 15 games and went 2-4 with a 5.64 ERA. He was bogged down by an oblique strain he sustained in spring training, and then had to deal with loose bodies in his elbow, all of which contributed to the derailment of his season. It was a far cry from his 2024 season when he went 12-6 with a 3.47 ERA, and he was an integral piece to their deep run through the playoffs that season, thanks to an adjustment to his arm angle. He emerged as the ace of the staff, and the team rewarded him with a three-year contract before the 2025 season.
Unfortunately, those injuries and his inability to be on the field consistently made it impossible for him to live up to the expectations that came with his new three-year deal, not to mention perform at a level the Mets needed him to in a rotation that grossly disappointed over the season’s final 95 games. Whether it was the elbow or something else, Manaea just could not repeat the success from the previous year.
He gets another chance this year, but with Freddy Peralta here, that chance comes without the pressure of having to be the ace of this staff. And, with Nolan McLean emerging as a potential top-of-the-rotation star for this rotation, Manaea may not even need to be more than a mid-rotation starter, which is fine and probably more appropriate for him. All the Mets really need from Manaea is for him to be healthy and somewhere in between what he was last year and what he was in the second half of the 2024 season. That would unquestionably serve as a performance upgrade for this rotation and go a long way towards answering the question as to whether or not Manaea’s 2024 season was an aberration or the beginning of a different yet productive part of his career.
It’s fair to argue last season’s struggles for Manaea were due to the lack of spring training, the seemingly endless effort to rehab from injury, and just never really being prepared to perform and compete in peak form. The Mets clearly feel confident that was a root cause. Manaea says he is 100 percent healthy, inclusive of his elbow which was not operated on over the winter, so now the Mets can only hope his elbow stays pain-free, he stays otherwise healthy, and he can give them value on the $25 million salary he’s going to earn in 2026 (minus the $7.75 million that’s deferred, of course).
The metrics would certainly support that argument. His fastball variance wasn’t significant between 2024 and 2025, and both his chase, walk, and strikeout rate were vastly improved during that span as well. His strike quality clearly wasn’t good, which led to nearly double the home run rate year over year, albeit in a significantly smaller sample size in 2025. Again, that could be contributed simply from a lack of preparation and injury management throughout the season. But, the point is the stuff was clearly still good and there were no signs of any diminishment. He’s a year older now, but again, if he can just be somewhere in between what he was in 2024 and 2025, the Mets will take that in year two of this three-year contract.
Manaea’s veteran presence also has value, for what it’s worth. He played an integral role late last year by taking Jonah Tong under his wing, specifically offering the rookie some comfort when he struggled against the Rangers opposite Jacob deGrom last September. That presence could prove valuable again with McLean and Tong as well as potentially Christian Scott when he inevitably gets back to the majors at some point during the season.
Of course, it is still spring, and his start against the Marlins should not be weighed too heavily no matter how he performs. This start is merely the first link in a long chain for Manaea, but it is still encouraging that he’s good to go. Should he recapture even some of his past success, the rotation would become a tough opponent for the league and could potentially carry them back to the playoffs after a disappointing 2025 season.
Around the League 🚩
Astros SS Jeremy Peña was diagnosed with a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger which will cause him to miss the WBC (ESPN)
OF Andrew McCutchen agreed to a minor league deal with the Rangers (MLB.com)
The Mariners got crushed by the Padres 27-6 on Thursday (Seattle Times)
The Milwaukee Brewers have the number one ranked farm system in all of baseball (MLB.com)
The Dodgers are no longer able to renew former outfielder Andrew Toles’s contract so he could continue have access to health insurance, but they are trying to find another way to help the outfielder and his family through his mental health struggles (LA Times)
Manaea could be the diff of a one and done playoffs, or a NLCS appearance (title?!). Here's why: you need a solid #3 starter in the playoffs. As a veteran and a lefty, he could be a very valuable starter. #LGM
I still have my doubts about Sean's elbow. It maybe should have been cleaned up over the winter. But hey, if he says he's good to go, have at it. If we get Manaea v.2024 pitching third in the rotation, we're winning some games.