Luis Severino is scheduled to start for the Athletics on Sunday when the Mets and A’s face off in Sacramento, and as the veteran righty gets set to face his old team, Severino opened up about New York’s limited pursuit of a reunion last winter when Severino was a free agent. Severino told SNY and other media members that he had interest in re-signing with the Mets last winter, and said he “told my agent that I’d stay for two years and $40MM.”
This is notably less than the three years and $67MM than Severino received from the Athletics, but 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 said. “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 club had some level of interest, though apparently only at an even lesser price. Severino said 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 allows Montas the ability to opt out of the contract following the season. (Severino’s deal with the A’s also has an opt-out clause following the 2026 season.) The $17MM average annual value of that contract is also well below the $22.333MM AAV Severino is getting from the Athletics, and also less than the Mets’ one-year, $21.05MM qualifying offer that Severino turned down last fall.
Even if Severino was willing to drop to a $20MM AAV with his proposed two-year, $40MM contract, a further haircut down to $17MM was a bridge too far for the 31-year-old, especially given the interest he was garnering from other teams. The Cubs and Blue Jays were publicly linked to Severino’s market before he surprised many by joining the low-payroll A’s, whose uncharacteristic spending spree this winter was more than a little related to the team’s desire to post a minimum luxury tax number related to its revenue-sharing recipient status.
Apart from the unique circumstances of the Mets’ record-setting splurge to add Juan Soto, president of baseball operations David Stearns was otherwise relatively measured in his offseason transactions, as evidenced by the lengthy staring contest of a negotiation with Pete Alonso before the slugger returned to the fold. It could be that Stearns simply didn’t value Severino beyond a particular price point, or that the Mets prioritized Alonso and Sean Manaea (who both also received qualifying offers) moreso than Severino.
The QO perhaps factored into the Mets’ decision process in another fashion, as the Mets ended up down one draft pick overall for the winter despite having three players rejecting QOs. The compensatory pick the Mets received for Severino ended up being one of the two picks the Mets had to surrender as compensation for signing Soto. Of course, the club didn’t get any compensation for re-signing their own free agents — Alonso re-upped for two years and $54MM (with an opt-out after this season), and Manaea for a three-year, $75MM deal that contains $23.75MM in deferred money, dropping the current value in terms of luxury tax numbers to roughly $22MM per season.
Severino signed a one-year, $13MM deal with New York in the 2023-24 offseason, which he viewed as a bounce-back contract after several injury-plagued years with the Yankees. The plan worked out well, as Severino had a solid 3.91 ERA over 182 innings with the Mets that paid off in the form of his three-year commitment from the Athletics. It proved to be a win from the Mets’ perspective as well, as Severino provided steady rotation work for a team that made the NLCS, and New York even get an extra draft pick back for its investment.
Time will tell if the A’s made a wise move in locking up Severino, or if the Mets made a good call in letting him walk. In the short term, however, some second-guessing is inevitable since both Manaea and Montas are hurt. Manaea will be out until late May at the earliest after suffering an oblique strain and then a setback in his rehab, while Montas also figures to be out until roughly mid-May after a lat strain cost him all of Spring Training. Severino has a modest 4.74 ERA over his three starts in an Athletics uniform, but he is at least healthy and on the mound, whereas the Mets have already had their rotation depth stretched in the early going.
I would have preferred Severino at 2 years, $40 million to Montas. We shall see how it plays out for each of them.
“I would have preferred Severino”..Now that Montas is down for a while, I think even the Mets probably wish they’d gone with Severino too.
But there’s no benefit of hindsight or do overs in baseball, so the Mets move forward with their current cast.
Based on what we already know and have already seen in the last year, there’s really no reason for Mets fans not to trust the process and continue to trust in the experienced and youthful looking David Stearns.
Trust the process comments is absurd. This is not a religion. Either the team made good decisions on pitching or it did not make good decisions on pitching. The decision not to sign Severino was kinda dumb unless the budget Sterns was given would not allow such a signing after the Soto pickup. Hard to know for sure.
@NYer Thank you!
Trust the process does sound like some top down, corporat / religious thinking.
It does get old.
Each decision can be analyzed on its on merit.
I don’t have any confidence that Severino is going to be effective or healthy going forward. He pitched a lot of innings last year after having hardly pitched any the last few years. He was very hittable at times last season. Decent number three starting pitcher, but I’m not sorry he’s gone. I wouldn’t have signed Montas either though.
I feel for him. I mean, how could anyone live on only $20M a year??
“I feel for him”…Latrell Sprewell has proven time and time again that a family of four will always struggle when presented with only $20M in annual income. If Latrell Sprewell can’t do it, why should we think others can?
17 was what he rejected. Knowing you could be living on 22.3 would add a wrinkle to your happiness.
Why discuss this? Why bring this up?
“Why discuss”…Because the very desperate MSM loves to regurgitate old news and constantly retell, distort and reshape history.
You think he said it unprompted? You think New York media wouldn’t ask frivolous questions that waste everyone’s time?
You say it’s frivolous, yet here you are, reading and commenting on that very same frivolity.
Find a random quote then have AI add 1000 words
“Find a random quote”…Companies are already passing A.I bots off as real people.
I contacted my billion dollar insurance provider for a chat with a “live agent” who even had a real human name.
It was obvious he wasn’t real when “he” never replied directly to queries, offering reheated, canned, generic responses instead.
I imagine soon all companies will be doing this. Can you imagine the real people and families losing jobs and incomes to a bot?
Bro that’s a chat bot and those have existed for 15 years.
I’m very confused, you guys are on a site with literal “Rumors” in the title. This site covers ALL things baseball. This is an interesting piece of info, why are you guys upset with more information?
They should ask for their money back. They obviously aren’t getting what they paid for.
@Joe He’s pitched 3 games in an A’s uniform. They ve received exactly what they paid for.
No Severino. The posters complaining about the article.
My bad I misinterpreted your comments. In that case tho I absolutely agree with you.
“Why bring this up?”
Severino didn’t bring it up, he was asked. As for why he was asked, it’s the reporter’s job to ask. Hope this helps.
Exactly! Why are you discussing this?
Translation: “I love Sacramento”
The man behind every OMG hr celebration pose. Miss him in orange and blue but can’t blame him for going after the top dollar
He was willing to take less money to stay with the Mets. That ballclub figured “let’s blow out our free agent budget on Soto”.
ChuckyNJ:
No, they just didn’t want Severino back. I wouldn’t have brought him back either.
“That ballclub figured “let’s blow out our free agent budget on Soto”.’
Nonsense comment. In the very article you’re commenting on, it is mentioned that they signed Montas for 2/$34 million. They also signed Clay Holmes for 3/$38 million. They signed Manaea for 3/$75 million. They signed Griffin Canning for 1/$4.25 million. They signed Jesse Winker for 1/$7.5 million. They signed AJ Minter for 2/$22 million. They signed Pete Alonso for 2/$54 million. Among a dozen or so lesser moves. You could remove the Soto transaction from their offseason and they’d still be one of the most active teams from last offseason.
You’re just being a bitter Yankees fans because the Mets signed away your guy.
Maybe they should have signed severino away back to the yanks, their starters are dropping like flies.
Mets were smart not to budge. I think the A’s will regret this deal. I know it’s only 3 years and $67 mil but it will probably be an excuse as to why the A’s can’t take on salary at the deadline.
@aYanks A’s won’t regret this deal, they had to spend to protect their revenue sharing.
Not only did the Mets save a couple of bucks by pivoting to Montas, they also got the draft pick compensation because Sevy turned down the QO. So the trade off is really Sevy for 2/$40 million or Montas and the draft pick for 2/$34 million. So far, with Montas injured, it looks like the better move would have been Severino. But it’s early and Sevy’s health is no guarantee. And the $3 million in savings went towards signing other FAs.
They’ll have to pay that draft pick a bonus, so the savings will be less than $6M.
Good point.
to be fair the Mets dont generally seem to draft well and most turn into just role players. Lets hope Jett bucks the trend.
QO compensation notwithstanding, it seems like Stearns made a hot read and decided they would be lucky to get the same production from Severino again. For a healthy season, his 2024 K and BB rates both moved in the wrong direction significantly. At least the Montas contract was based on a clear velocity gain after his trade to Milwaukee.
No, the Montas contract hasn’t worked out to date due to an injury,but the available data at the time indicated he had the livelier arm to work with.
If the FO deserves to be castigated for the Montas contract, they also deserve contract for letting Sevvy walk. The latter is getting hit hard with the A’s despite a low opponent’s BABIP and his K and BB rates continue to get worse.
‘What have you done for me lately’ is a terrible metric for player acquisitions.
No castigation. Mets SPs are doing very well, thank you very much! Most are under contract for 2026, too.
Holmes
Manaea
Peterson
Megill
Senga
Canning, Blackburn and Montas are probably free after 2025. No QO, no QO, and player option.
Mets fans are going to be okay without Severino on the team.
2026 should get Christian Scott back as well. With guys like Sproat, Nolan Mclean, Blade Tidwell, and Jonah Tong waiting in the wings as potential starters. Sproat will likely be up this year.
Great points. His 2024 FIP tells a similar story. 4.21 is not impressive. Add 1/3 of a run to that and you get Jose Quintana’s 2024 FIP, after which he signed for 1/$4.25m.
His xFIP tells a better story but even then, projection systems incorporating it still have Severino in 2025 w an ERA somewhere between 4.35 and 4.60 and, a little surprisingly, up around 150-165 IP. That’s not a $20m a year starting pitcher, not even in the 2024-2025 offseason. That’s close enough to replacement level for teams with the money to roll with the Griffin Cannings and Jose Quintanas of the world or their favorite quad A starters, and use the $16-20m saved on a solid starting 2-3 WAR corner OFer.
“Everyone bashes..hating on…owner’s bank account”..So opinions different than your own are now classified as “hate”, gotcha.
I think we all know what other interesting labels get attached to others by people who dislike hearing alternate opinions.
@mlbfan what”…When you label someone, you’re trying to diminish their point and limit their ability to speak alternate views.
How possibly is an alternate baseball opinion to be called “hate”. I guess you’ve not seen all the real “hate” going on in the world today.
@mlb Let’s not pretend that your opinions on the financials of MLB are derived from a baseball opinion. You ve shown time and time again that your comments on financials and anything owners/players is derived and fueled by politics.
Totally agree.
The comp pick from Severino walking was nullified by Soto’s signing, so in effect, they lost Severino and the draft pick, while he’s healthy and starting elsewhere. Severino’s bounce-back (182 IP in 2024) proves he wasn’t a health gamble—they simply miscalculated his value. Severino reportedly wanted to stay because of the Mets’ trainers. They let a durable, loyal vet walk over $3M AAV. That’s not just a miss—it’s a structural error in asset valuation and risk management.
“The comp pick from Severino walking was nullified by Soto’s signing, so in effect, they lost Severino and the draft pick”
I can’t understand what you mean by this and I’ve been trying
Let’s not forget the luxury tax implications which would turn that $3mil into $6mil……
When the Mets made the Qualifying Offer (QO) many thought they were crazy. When Severino rejected the QO many thought he was crazy. And when the Athletics paid him the huge sum, many thought they were crazy.
@paule It just means that the Mets FO judged the market for starting pitchers correctly, and that the Athletics’ front office is pathetic for going that high for a starting pitcher likely to end up with an ERA in the mid-4’s.
Severino is at least healthy. Can’t say the same for Stearns favored alternatives Manea and Montas. Would take Sevy any day over that PED bum Montas.
86mets:
Yes, Severino is healthy and pitching poorly. I’d rather have an injured starter who’s coming back and someone else pitching in his place than Severino. Everyone in the Mets rotation is pitching better than Severino.