New York Mets starting pitcher Sean Manaea hit another setback in his efforts to join the team’s starting rotation for the 2025 season.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced Tuesday that the veteran left-hander will be shut down for two weeks after he received a platelet-rich plasma injection to accelerate the healing of a right oblique strain. The team hoped that Manaea would join the starting rotation around the middle of April. However, this development has pushed his timetable back to at least late May.
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“He experienced some discomfort a couple of days ago while he was starting to ramp up,” Mendoza told reporters. “We took an MRI again, and it showed inflammation, so he got a PRP injection [on Monday].”
Manaea, 33, was shut down in late February due to the oblique strain. He resumed throwing March 10 and followed a typical spring training routine of six weeks to build up for the regular season. Now that timetable has likely been reset with Manaea shut down again.
“He’s gonna go two weeks of no throwing, and then we’ve got to start building him back up again,” Mendoza added. “We have to revisit and see where we’re at after that.”
Manaea re-signed with the Mets during the offseason after opting out of his original, two-year deal, agreeing to a three-year, $75 million contract after an excellent debut season in Queens. He had the best year of his career, compiling a 3.47 ERA and 184 strikeouts in 181 2/3 innings. He had a 12-6 record and tied his career high with 32 starts.
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That had Manaea projected to be among the Mets’ top starting pitchers going into 2025. But for now, he is sidelined along with Frankie Montas Jr., who signed a two-year, $34 million free-agent deal.
Montas, 32, was also shut down during the spring due to a high-grade right lat strain that is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks. Barring any setbacks, that timetable would have him ready to resume a spring training-like preparation in mid-April, with a likely late May or early June debut.
After pitching with the Athletics in the American League for his first six MLB seasons, registering a 3.86 ERA and rate of 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 129 appearances (128 starts), Manaea has played his past three seasons in the National League, one each with the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Mets.
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