Sean Manaea open to pitching with Mets next season: ‘Wouldn’t take too much convincing’

When the Mets signed Sean Manaea this offseason, the expectation was that he’d help bring some stability to the backend of the starting rotation.

But with less than a month remaining in the regular season, the big left-hander has already provided New York with that and so much more as they battle through a tough National League Wild Card race.

“It’s been amazing,” Francisco Lindor said. “It’s been amazing to see how he works on his plan, his approach, and he has executed it. He seems like he’s getting better as the year goes on which is a really good thing, I’m happy with how he’s doing it.”

Manaea certainly has been getting better as the year goes on, and as has been well documented, that can be credited to a change in his mechanics inspired by Braves left-hander and NL Cy Young contender Chris Sale.

Since implementing those changes during his July 30 outing against the Minnesota Twins, the southpaw has transformed himself into one of the most consistent starters in baseball, posting a 2.81 ERA over that span.

He’s also provided the Mets with tremendous length when they’ve needed it most down the stretch, pitching into the seventh inning or deeper in all but one of his previous eight outings.

“I just simplified everything,” Manaea told Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman on The Show. “That helped me clear my head when I’m on the mound and at this point, it’s really just attacking guys, and I’m getting more confidence in my stuff and who I am as a pitcher.”

Heading into Wednesday afternoon’s start against the Toronto Blue Jays, Manaea has recorded a quality start in 12 of his 28 outings and he’s pitched to a 3.43 ERA, which is good enough for eighth in the National League.

With his sustained success and the price of pitching, the 32-year-old will almost certainly opt out of the two-year pact he signed with the club, allowing him to test the open market again this offseason.

There’s no denying that he’ll be a hot commodity for pitching-hungry clubs, but Manaea certainly sounds very open to the idea of a potential reunion in the Big Apple.

“I’ve loved every second here,” he told Heyman and Sherman. “We’ll see what happens, but it really wouldn’t take too much convincing, I would think.”

We’ll see if both sides can come to an agreement this offseason, but the Mets should be open to the idea as well with the uncertainty in their rotation beyond this season.