Luis Severino Discusses Offseason Talks With Mets

Luis Severino is scheduled to start out for the Athletics on Sunday when the Mets and A’s face off in Sacramento, and because the veteran righty will get set to face his outdated workforce, Severino opened up about New York’s restricted pursuit of a reunion final winter when Severino was a free agent.  Severino advised SNY and different media members that he had curiosity in re-signing with the Mets final winter, and stated he “told my agent that I’d stay for two years and $40MM.”

That is notably lower than the three years and $67MM than Severino obtained from the Athletics, however the righty was open to the lesser payday.  “I knew it was going to be less money, but I just liked the environment there,” Severino stated.  “The trainers were unbelievable, everything there, it was good.  So I was trying to sacrifice more money by staying in a place that I know…I can get better.  But by the end, like I said, I was not in their plans.”

From the Mets’ perspective, the membership had some stage of curiosity, although apparently solely at an excellent lesser worth.  Severino stated he heard from his agent that the Mets’ “only offer they were going to give me was the same deal that they gave [Frankie] Montas.  So I think for me that was not fair.”

New York signed Montas to a two-year, $34MM deal that permits Montas the power to decide out of the contract following the season.  (Severino’s take care of the A’s additionally has an opt-out clause following the 2026 season.)  The $17MM common annual worth of that contract can be properly beneath the $22.333MM AAV Severino is getting from the Athletics, and in addition lower than the Mets’ one-year, $21.05MM qualifying supply that Severino turned down final fall.

Even when Severino was prepared to drop to a $20MM AAV together with his proposed two-year, $40MM contract, an additional haircut right down to $17MM was a bridge too far for the 31-year-old, particularly given the curiosity he was garnering from different groups.  The Cubs and Blue Jays have been publicly linked to Severino’s market earlier than he shocked many by becoming a member of the low-payroll A’s, whose uncharacteristic spending spree this winter was greater than somewhat associated to the workforce’s need to put up a minimum luxury tax number associated to its revenue-sharing recipient standing.

Aside from the distinctive circumstances of the Mets’ record-setting splurge so as to add Juan Soto, president of baseball operations David Stearns was in any other case comparatively measured in his offseason transactions, as evidenced by the prolonged staring contest of a negotiation with Pete Alonso earlier than the slugger returned to the fold.  It might be that Stearns merely didn’t worth Severino past a specific worth level, or that the Mets prioritized Alonso and Sean Manaea (who each additionally obtained qualifying gives) moreso than Severino.

The QO maybe factored into the Mets’ resolution course of in one other style, because the Mets ended up down one draft decide total for the winter regardless of having three gamers rejecting QOs.  The compensatory decide the Mets obtained for Severino ended up being one of many two picks the Mets needed to give up as compensation for signing Soto.  After all, the membership didn’t get any compensation for re-signing their very own free brokers — Alonso re-upped for 2 years and $54MM (with an opt-out after this season), and Manaea for a three-year, $75MM deal that accommodates $23.75MM in deferred cash, dropping the present worth by way of luxurious tax numbers to roughly $22MM per season.

Severino signed a one-year, $13MM take care of New York within the 2023-24 offseason, which he considered as a bounce-back contract after a number of injury-plagued years with the Yankees.  The plan labored out properly, as Severino had a strong 3.91 ERA over 182 innings with the Mets that paid off within the type of his three-year dedication from the Athletics.  It proved to be a win from the Mets’ perspective as properly, as Severino supplied regular rotation work for a workforce that made the NLCS, and New York even get an additional draft decide again for its funding.

Time will inform if the A’s made a sensible transfer in locking up Severino, or if the Mets made a superb name in letting him stroll.  Within the brief time period, nonetheless, some second-guessing is inevitable since each Manaea and Montas are damage.  Manaea might be out till late Could on the earliest after struggling an indirect pressure after which a setback in his rehab, whereas Montas additionally figures to be out till roughly mid-Could after a lat pressure value him all of Spring Coaching.  Severino has a modest 4.74 ERA over his three begins in an Athletics uniform, however he’s no less than wholesome and on the mound, whereas the Mets have already had their rotation depth stretched within the early going.