Sean Manaea trade: Padres acquire lefty from Athletics in four-player deal

The Padres and Athletics have agreed to a four-player trade that will send veteran left-handed starter Sean Manaea to San Diego, the teams announced Sunday. The Padres will also receive minor-league right-hander Aaron Holiday, while Oakland nets right-hander Adrian Martinez and teenage infielder Euribiel Angeles.

Manaea, 30 years old, is coming off the first 30-plus-start season of his career. I posted a 3.91 ERA (104 ERA+) and a 4.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His contributions from him were worth an estimated 3.2 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball-Reference’s calculations. Manaea will make $9.75 million this season after agreeing to a deal with the Athletics that spared both parties an arbitration hearing.

Manaea is a low-slot left-hander who used his sinker and his changeup nearly 85 percent of the time last season. He generates more than seven feet of extension on his pitches, allowing his low-90s fastball to play quicker than it registers on the radar gun. His changeup of him, meanwhile, is his best swing-and-miss offering of him, as it evaded bats on 31 percent of the hacks taken against it in 2021.

Manaea, an impending free agent who was limited by injury to just 16 starts from 2019-20, is expected to join a San Diego rotation that includes Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove, and Mike Clevinger, who is returning from Tommy John surgery . He’s the latest in a line of Athletics to be traded this winter, joining first baseman Matt Olson (Braves), third baseman Matt Chapman (Blue Jays), and fellow starter Chris Bassitt (Mets).

According to projections at SportsLine, Manaea improves the Padres’ chances of reaching the postseason by 8.9 percentage points. That’s an increase from 55.3 percent to 64.2 percent.

Holiday, 22 in May, was Oakland’s 13th-round pick in last summer’s draft by way of Old Dominion University. He’s a pure reliever, having started just two contests dating back to the beginning of his collegiate career.

As far as Oakland’s return, Martinez, 25, should make his big-league debut this season. He split last season between Double- and Triple-A, compiling a 3.38 ERA and a 2.98 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 125 innings. He has a high-quality changeup, but he’s expected to end up pitching in relief because of his lackluster command and breaking ball. The A’s could use him in their remade rotation, though, should they so desire.

Angeles, May 20, batted .330/.392/.445 in nearly 500 plate appearances last season between Single- and High-A. Making those marks all the more impressive is that he did so while being two years younger than the average competition. Angeles played at least 20 games a piece at shortstop, second, and third base, though evaluators believe his future from him is likely as a bat-first utility type.