Sean Manaea starts against the A’s just hours after trade
In a twist of Shakespearean fate, southpaw Sean Manaea started against the A’s Sunday in the Cactus League, just hours after he was traded to the San Diego Padres to reunite with former skipper Bob Melvin.
“I was thinking about pitching him in an A’s uni and a Padres’ cap,’’ Melvin said, via USA Today.
Over the past 18 years, no A’s pitcher made more starts (128), won more games (50) or struck out more batters (641) than Manaea. From the time he made his MLB debut in 2016, Manaea endeared himself to Oakland’s fanbase with his goofy personality.
So it was a bit weird to see him in a brown uniform, facing the guys he shared a locker room with the day before. He gave up six hits and a run in 3.2 innings of work, but was lifted midway through the third inning in the middle of a bases-loaded jam before re-entering later. He got a nice round of applause from the A’s fans in Mesa after getting pulled by BoMel.
Manaea K’d Pinder to end the first inning. All of this is so weird pic.twitter.com/gpekRyO0sq
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) April 3, 2022
A’s fans in Mesa give Manaea a nice ovation after BoMel takes him out of the game 👏 pic.twitter.com/ER8k507Vl0
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) April 3, 2022
The camaraderie was on full display as Manaea walked toward the bullpen and said goodbye to the A’s. He was a special character in that clubhouse.
Sean Manaea saying goodbye to the A’s dugout is so wholesome 😢 pic.twitter.com/5ll08hMNKw
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) April 3, 2022
“I was a little emotional, actually very emotional,’’ Manaea said, via USA Today. “It didn’t really hit me until I got to the locker and started packing things up, making it official, official. It was nice to have closure saying good-bye to the guys.”
For now, I think the dismantling is complete.
Melvin. Manaea. Chris Bassitt. Matt Olson. Matt Chapman. Mark Canha. All gone in the same offseason. To say nothing of Marcus Semien, Liam Hendriks, Starling Marte, Josh Harrison, Andrew Chafin and Yan Gomes.
Tight-fisted A’s owner John Fisher absolutely cleaned house this season and shed about $43 million from his 2022 payroll with the trades of Bassitt, Olson, Chapman and Manaea. Now he’s sitting on a $33 million salary for his opening day roster. As Jon Heyman noted, that’s the same amount as the Haas family doled out to the 1991 roster.
Thirty one years and all that inflation later.
Manaea told reporters he was caught “off-guard” by the trade but this can’t be viewed as a complete surprise, even though it was just five days before opening day. With the cost-cutting move, Fisher can break even at the end of the year when he gets his hands on MLB’s revenue sharing money, which came out to $30+ million annually when the A’s were previous participants in the program.
The BoMel Era is officially over. Throughout his tenure, there was no more reliable starter than Manaea, despite his 2019 season that was mostly lost due to shoulder surgery recovery and capped off with a poor start in the AL Wild Card game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Manaea’s best season arguably came in 2018, when he had a 3.59 ERA in 27 starts and tossed a no-hitter against the Red Sox. The A’s probably felt like they had to sell high on Manaea after his solid 2021 campaign, when he set career highs in games started (32) innings pitched (179.1) and strikeouts (194).
If anything, this trade seemed like another payroll shedding move, as Manaea is due to make $9.75 million in his final year of arbitration this year. That’s below market value for a 30-year-old southpaw like Manaea coming off his strong 2021 season and an impressive showing against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week in front of a bunch of scouts.
“He was the heart and soul of the staff the last few years,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay told NBC Sports California. “His impact inside that clubhouse will be felt. But, hey, the guys have been through this. We’ve been through it so far this year and our mentality is ‘next man up.’ That’s kind of the message today.”
Kotsay also named Frankie Montas the opening day starter, so you’d think that Oakland is done dealing. But if we’ve learned anything this offseason it’s that there are no sacred cows. Montas is going to make $5 million this season and I think he will have a better season than Manaea, so I wasn’t surprised to see the left-hander dealt before Frankie.
Kotsay also discussed the team’s rotation, essentially sharing who will be in the starting five behind Montas and Cole Irvin until James Kaprielian (AC joint) returns.
“Frankie Montas is going to lead this group,” Kotsay said. “He’s been here, he’s had success. … Other names that’ll be part of that group, Daulton Jefferies, Paul Blackburn and Adam Oller also. They know that the responsibility of starters are huge and to get us into games only benefits the team.”
Despite Kotsay’s declarations, I’m still holding my breath until Montas finally trots out to the mound in Philadelphia on Friday night. I wouldn’t put it past the A’s to go full reset and get something for Montas. The White Sox reportedly were in the running for Manaea, so maybe they’d like Frankie, too.
It’s going to be a slog for the A’s pitching staff to get through 162 games this season. At this point they should seriously consider bringing back 37-year-old Yusmeiro Petit again. That 3.92 ERA in 78 innings last year shouldn’t look too shabby for the A’s front office. Maybe they can whip up one of those $850,000 contracts like they did with Stephen Vogt and Jed Lowrie.
Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported that reliever Deolis Guerra will undergo surgery after experiencing forearm tightness this spring, so you have to assume he’s out for months. Guerra’s loss is huge for the A’s, as he pitched 65.2 innings in 2021. His 4.11 ERA wasn’t great but his 3.96 FIP and 1.11 WHIP give reason to think he could have been a reliable setup man for Kotsay. All roads probably lead to the inconsistent Lou Trivino as the closer and there’s a bunch more question marks in the bullpen beside him.
As for the prospects the A’s received, Melissa Lockard of The Athletic isn’t sold on the haul. Adrian Martinez posted a 3.38 ERA with 122 strikeouts in 125 innings last season between Double-A and Triple-A. Infield prospect Euribiel Angeles, 19, has a higher ceiling but is still at least a couple years off from making an impact at the big-league level. Aaron Holiday, the team’s 2021 13th-round pick, also went to San Diego.
In all, it’s just another bitter pill for A’s fans. They’re used to it by now, but Sunday’s swap was particularly brutal. Best of luck to BoMel and Manaea, who will be sorely missed in The Town.
