Dodgers Favorite Punching Bag Stays in NL West

Former Padres pitcher Sean Manaea, who was historically bad against the Dodgers in 2022, stays in the NL West after signing with the Giants.

There have been 33 times a pitcher threw at least 15 innings in a season against the Dodgers and allowed at least one earned run per inning. It's an interesting list with plenty of names you've never heard of — Claude Willoughby? Bob Chesnes? — but also some decent pitchers like borderline Hall of Famer Rick Reuschel and actual Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven.

But right near the top of that list is Sean Manaea's 2022 season, in which he pitched 17.2 innings against the Dodgers and allowed 23 earned runs for an 11.72 ERA. Only Don Cardwell (23 ER in 17 IP in 1962) and Jim Barr (24 ER in 18.1 IP in 1977) have ever had a worse season against the Dodgers.

So when Manaea hit free agency this offseason, you might have expected him to get as far away from the Dodgers as possible. Instead, he's leaning into it.

Sean Manaea to Giants. $25M, 2 years. Opt out.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 12, 2022

Manaea has been a good pitcher at times in his career, and when the Padres traded for him during spring training in 2022, it was seen as a huge move for them. Instead, San Diego ended up being successful mostly in spite of him rather than because of him.

It's kind of wild that Manaea ends up getting nearly as much in average annual value as Tyler Anderson got, considering that Anderson had the fifth-best ERA in the National League while Manaea had the second-worst among pitchers with at least 158 innings pitched. Anderson might end up wishing he'd waited, because the market for pitching has been crazy this offseason.