San Francisco Giants Signing Sean Manaea Would Be Costly in Multiple Ways

The San Francisco Giants signing Sean Manaea would be costly in more ways than just the paycheck he would receive.

Oct 20, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea (59) pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning during game six of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants are heading into the Winter Meetings with not a ton of positives to take away from the offseason so far. 

Coming into the winter, the Giants knew that they were going to have to make some serious changes to their roster if they were going to compete in 2025. With Buster Posey in charge as the new president of baseball operations, the hope is that he can help turn this thing around after years of mediocrity. 

However, so far, San Francisco has seen their talented southpaw from last season, Blake Snell, sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Due to the Giants looking to scale back their payroll a bit, seeing Snell leave wasn’t all that surprising. However, it was a significant loss nonetheless. 

Now, the Giants are likely going to try and find some sort of replacement for the former Cy Young award winner. Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report highlighted some possible landing spots for left-hander Sean Manaea. San Francisco was mentioned as a fit, but it would be a move that would be costly in a couple of different ways. 

“Yet as a luxury tax payor, the Giants would face losing their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2025 draft and $1 million in international bonus money if they pivoted to Manaea. Besides, they reportedly want to cut payroll.”

It was a really strong season for the southpaw with the New York Mets in 2024. The left-hander made some changes to his delivery and had the best season of his career with a 3.0 WAR, (12-6) record, and 3.47 ERA. 

When looking at the contract alone, Manaea will likely follow in the footsteps of Yusei Kikuchi, who received a three-year, $63 million deal. However, while that price point isn’t bad for his services, losing draft picks and money to spend in the international pool would be a big blow. 

For the Giants, they don’t have the farm system currently to be able to give up draft picks in order to sign players. Their farm system rates as one of the worst in baseball, and losing two picks in the first five rounds won’t help fix that issue long-term. 

Even though Manaea would be an excellent replacement for Snell in the rotation, it would prove costly in more ways than one. For a team that isn’t just signing a talented left-hander away from winning a championship, he doesn’t appear to be the best fit at this time.