The Mets are issuing the $21.05M qualifying offer to both Luis Severino and Sean Manaea , reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post ( X links ). There’s no surprise in Manaea’s case, though Severino was more of a borderline call.
The pitchers will have until Nov. 19 to determine whether to lock in that salary. That’ll give their representatives just over two weeks to gauge the market.
Manaea is coming off one of the better platform years of anyone in the rotation class. He turned in a 3.47 earned run average while striking out a quarter of opponents through a career-high 181 2/3 innings.
The southpaw had an excellent second half that coincided with a dip in his arm angle and an increased use of his sinker. He’ll probably be limited to three-year offers as he enters his age-33 season, though those could come at a comparable annual value to the QO price. He shouldn’t give much consideration to accepting.
Severino could have a more interesting decision. The hard-throwing righty worked to a 3.91 ERA across 182 frames spanning 31 starts.
It was a nice rebound from his terrible final season with the Yankees. Severino improved his ground-ball rate to 46% but didn’t find the kind of bat-missing ability that made him a high-end starter during his early days in the Bronx. He fanned 21.
2% of batters faced while getting swinging strikes at a well below-average 9.4% clip. The lack of whiffs could lead to trepidation from some teams.
Severino has plus velocity and good control, t.