The San Francisco Giants agreed to a deal with Sean Manaea on Sunday. It’s not a bad move. Manaea had a 3.64 FIP from 2019 through 2021, and has sported an incredibly low walk rate for the bulk of his career.
But, similar to the Mitch Haniger signing (at least with the benefit of hindsight), the Manaea signing is less about the move they made, and more about the moves they didn’t make. The Giants sat by and watched Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, and Kodai Senga sign contracts. They claimed to be interested in a reunion with Carlos Rodón, even though we knew it wouldn’t happen.