The Baltimore Orioles have some questions to answer this winter.
After losing the American League Wild Card Series to the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles may end up losing right-hander Corbin Burnes as well. They acquired him in spring training from the Milwaukee Brewers, but he'll be expensive.
Fortunately, this year's free agent class has a lot of pitching options. If the Orioles do lose Burnes, they have options they can turn to.
One of them may be left-hander Sean Manaea. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller listed Baltimore as a team that could potentially target the unexpected New York Mets ace.
"He's a far cry from the likes of Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell atop this year's list of free-agent pitchers, and he may well settle for an AAV a couple of million bucks below the one-year offer he just declined. But he should be able to get a four-year deal with a total value triple what he rejected," Miller wrote.
"At a $15M-$16 million AAV price point, Manaea could make sense for a contender like Baltimore or Detroit."
Manaea won 12 games with the Mets and posted a 3.47 ERA in his 32 starts. He also pitched 181 2/3 innings, struck out 184 batters and had a 3.0 Wins Above Replacement.
He is expected to sign a four-year, $72 million contract. The Orioles may finally choose to spend big with new owner David Rubenstein having taken over for John Angelos.
Baltimore has been fiscally conservative in terms of free agency over the last several years, but Rubenstein may choose to operate differently. Manaea could serve as a solid No. 2 or No. 3 starter for the Orioles if signed.
The O's are fortunate that the market consists of so many solid starters, and they are going to need to add an arm or two to remain a threat to the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Manaea shouldn't be too expensive for them.
More MLB: Orioles proposed blockbuster lands White Sox All-Star in 4-player swap
