Mets announce Sean Manaea will begin season in bullpen as starting rotation is set
Manaea has been throwing with lower velocity through the spring, but manager Carlos Mendoza said that didn't influence the decision.
Sean Manaea will not be part of the New York Mets’ season-opening starting rotation, which the team announced on Saturday. Manaea, 34, will begin the season in the bullpen while Freddy Peralta, David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga form manager Carlos Mendoza’s five-man starting rotation. Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season Mendoza acknowledged that he had six candidates for the starting staff coming out of Grapefruit League play, but opted to go with a five-man rotation with a day off after the Mets’ season opener versus the Pittsburgh Pirates.
However, that follows with a stretch of nine games in nine days. That might make a six-man rotation necessary. “If everyone was healthy, we were going to have to make some tough decisions,” Mendoza told reporters on Saturday, “and one of them was going to be pitching in that type of role.
" The Mets plan to use Sean Manaea in a piggyback role to begin the season Carlos Mendoza explains the decision: pic. twitter. com/xvzevk06Q2 — SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 21, 2026 The Mets skipper added that Manaea will likely pitch during that first turn through the rotation, piggybacking on one of the starts.
But he didn’t say when that would be. As could be expected, Manaea wasn’t pleased with the decision but says he’ll do whatever the team needs from him. “I consider myself a starter,” Manaea said, via MLB.