The Athletics made Luis Severino the highest-paid player in franchise history last winter. The first season of his three-year, $67MM free agent contract was mixed at best. The veteran righty had a poor first half, allowing a 5.16 ERA over 20 starts. He was at the center of controversy in late June after he bemoaned pitching at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park in a conversation with The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty.
Those comments reportedly didn’t sit well with A’s brass. There was speculation that the team would try to move Severino before the deadline, but his contract and poor performance made that easier said than done. Severino rebuilt some value with a better showing after the All-Star Break. He concluded the season with a 3.10 ERA over his final nine appearances. He struck out a solid 21.8% of opponents while holding them to a .226/.289/.333 batting line over that stretch.
Aside from a three-week injured list stint due to an oblique strain, the second half performance was what the A’s front office had in mind when they signed Severino. As they enter another offseason that’ll be focused on pitching, they seem less inclined to move him than they had been a few months ago. Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic write that the A’s are not interested in trading Severino in a pure salary dump. While they’re not taking him off the table in talks, it seems they’re demanding a legitimate return on top of another club taking his contract off the books.
Severino is still owed a $5MM signing bonus, which will be paid next January 15. (The A’s would be responsible for that even if they traded him within the next month.) He’ll make a $20MM salary next year and has a $22MM player option for the 2027 campaign. It’s a total commitment of two years and $42MM with the possibility that Severino opts out after the first season. He received and rejected a qualifying offer from the Mets last winter, so the A’s would not be able to make him another QO if he retests the market.
It’s not a terrible contract, but it’s also not one that has much upside for the team. Severino is coming off a 4.54 ERA with a below-average 17.6% strikeout rate across 162 2/3 innings overall. There’s been a lot of attention to the three-run gap in his ERA (6.01 vs. 3.02) at home versus on the road. However, Severino’s 17% strikeout rate and unsustainably low .249 average on balls in play during his away starts suggest his road ERA is a bit of a mirage. There’s a much narrower gap in his FIP (4.34 vs. 3.87) in his home/road splits. The overall picture looks like that of a league average starter.
The ideal outcome for the team is that Severino pitches like a #3 starter next season and opts out. He’d only exercise the player option if he pitched poorly enough that he doesn’t feel it’d be smart to walk away from a $22MM salary. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t appear teams are willing to offer the A’s a strong trade package. Sammon and Rosenthal write that interested clubs would only take on Severino’s contract if they don’t need to give up significant talent.
That doesn’t achieve a whole lot for the A’s, assuming the front office and ownership aren’t shopping him solely because of his criticism of the temporary stadium arrangement. Severino and Jeffrey Springs are their only returning starters who topped 100 innings. The rotation had a 4.85 ERA overall, the fourth-highest mark in MLB. Rookies Jacob Lopez and Luis Morales showed promise, but starting pitching remains the team’s biggest need. That’s particularly true given how hitter-friendly the Sacramento park plays — putting a greater toll on the A’s young arms. They may face similar challenges to last offseason in convincing free agent starters to sign there.
Severino, Springs, Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler are the only players on guaranteed deals. They have one of the lightest arbitration classes in MLB. RosterResource projects their luxury tax number around $105MM, which was their reported target last winter to avoid a revenue sharing grievance. Their actual payroll estimate sits at roughly $75MM. That’s also right around where they opened the ’25 campaign. In addition to their rotation need, they’re aiming to add a high-leverage reliever and could pursue second and/or third base help.
How much are cokes? Asking for a friend of Halle
I don’t think it makes much sense to trade him. The A’s need big league innings. He’s more of a back end starter at this point but that’s useful for the A’s. If they aren’t in a salary pinch it seems like keeping him and using the innings is more valuable than trading him for very little. My guess is they add one more similar arm through a trade, 2 relievers in free agency, a left handed hitting infielder, and call it a day. It would be great if they got a higher end arm but that’s probably a long shot
A’s are stacked:
Wilson
Butler
Kurtz
Rooker
Langeliers
Soderstrom
De Vries
Hernaiz
Thomas
I think you jump De Vries up to the bigs as soon as possible – this season – and let him take SS, move Wilson to 2B. A reunion with Miguel Andujar would be a perfect fit. He’d move Hernaiz to the bench with Denzel Clark.
Mitch Spence, Jack Perkins, JT Ginn and Joey Estes could meld into one heck of a bullpen.
If their rotation hits this year, if Severino and Springs have good seasons, if Lopez and Morales improve, the A’s can win the AL West. They could use a quality 4/5 in the rotation. How about Jose Quintana?
I dont think MLB wants the A’s winning the AL West but they could potentially have playoff games at the Coliseum or how about at Allegiant in Las Vegas? I’m sure you can put a field in there somehow.
A’s could win this season.
I like it. Only thing is im pretty confident Clark is the starter in center field to start the year. His defense is elite and I think they’ll give him every chance to hit. If he can hit .230 with 12 homeruns he’s a really good overall player with that defense
Listen, if all that happens, I doubt you would beat Seattle. When healthy, the AL West is formidable. Predicting Angels finished dead last.
I think the A’s have a solid chance at being a wild card team with their offense if they can get league average pitching. It’s a big “if” but they’ve improved from 50 to 69 to 76 wins in the last 3 years so a jump to 87 doesn’t seem far fetched with the offensive core. They obviously need things to break well for them to do that but I think going into this year they should have at least a reasonable chance of that
I think that they can be a playoff team. But I don’t think they can win the West with healthy Texas teams and the dangerous Seattle team. I honestly wouldn’t be suprised if the AL West had FOUR playoff teams.
I am a lifelong Astros fan, but the Astros are fading. Texas Rangers are basically a mess. Until someone proves otherwise, Seattle is the class of the division. If the A’s get any pitching whatsoever, look out.
Texas teams are fading bro and the Angels? Well, at this point it looks like they are curse. A’s have a shot here next season to make the playoffs. Their odds are somewhat in their favor IF they can get more pitching.
If they took time to turn DeVries into a second baseman or Gelof gets some of his rookie form the A’s have a young rotation coming through that looks nasty. I’d see what happens next few years in Sac town but focus mainly on locking up those young pups and developing that pitching for a ‘28 Vegas A’s World Series. It ain’t happening in Sacramento. I’m a massive A’s fan from Ireland. Gage Jump and few others and few other young fellows down there look nasty. Trade severino for 2 good pen pieces, leave Ginn in the rotation til maybe mid season ‘27 then transition him into to long relief or set up guy. Go A’s….PS it’s a little to early for DeVries I think triple A by mid May and keep him there unless he ABSOLUTELY mashes
I think Leo playing 2b or 3b is pretty likely at some point near the end of the year. I don’t think they need to take much time having him transition to one of those spots. If he can play short moving over should be pretty straightforward. Maybe a week of game action at one of those spots in the minors and he’ll be good to go defensively
Shut up, Big Yo. Your “Vegas A’s 2028 champs” is annoying and not funny at all.
Leo De Vries is the next Franklin Barreto. Sorry, Fisher fans.
That’s just mean
They don’t JUST want to trade him for salary relief, they also want to trade him because he spoke out against the AAA facility.
I don’t know that him speaking out about the AAA park is why they would trade him. Now, if they didn’t have a future home yet and were in Sac-Town for an unknown amount of time, then I would agree. From top management down to the ball boys, none of them want to be at that stadium. That’s not to poo-poo on Sac, the team wouldn’t want to play at any AAA stadium.
If they’re moving him, it’s a salary dump no matter what they say. They desperately need starting pitching, moving Severino for anything other than a younger starter with more control makes no baseball sense.
He signed with them knowing they were gonna play in AAA facility. The A’s didn’t even want him if I had to guess, knowing how they hate to spend money. He only signed with them because nobody else was gonna be crazy enough to give him that kind of money. The only reason the A’s signed him is because they had to start spending money or they were going to be in some trouble.
I like Severino but he knew full well the deal of going to pitch there, he got more money because of the strange situation. Now he wants to complain and try to force his way out? Feels dirty he knew exactly what he was signing up for. All this wasn’t a problem before he got his 67 million.
I think reporters serve a very important function in the world. They are not the enemy
That said, there is a lot of [poor] reporting that goes on.
I don’t know exactly what lead to Severino’s comments. And that’s the problem.
It seems likely that he was asked about it in some way. But, what was the question?
And it’s not like he trashed the team and the stadium. I can’t view the article, but if I recall, he just said that it’s tough to play there because the facilities aren’t as good as those in other stadiums – which…yeah. Almost certainly true.
But sports fans dudes love to make drama out of every little thing people say. So, it becomes like the comment I’m responding to.
Do better as reporters and readers
I don’t think he could know “full well the deal of going to pitch there” until he actually pitched there.
One of his main complaints was the mound, where he slipped on deliveries a few times. That could/should theoretically be an easy solve for the team and grounds crew by bringing the mound up to major league standards in the off-season.
Another was facilities – no AC/fans in the dugout and the clubhouse being out beyond left field. The AC part is probably something you don’t even think about during negotiations. The clubhouse thing — Severino says he likes to go into the clubhouse between innings when he’s pitching — probably should have been considered by him if it is that important.
They signed him to appease the players union, who were going to file a grievance due to their extremely low payroll.
He knew it. They knew it. We all knew it. Ur was an almost completely random signing.
He got paid extra to sign with that team in that situation. And if they trade him, they’ll have to take on comparable salary too avoid a possible grievance this off-season as well.
I hope he stays there for the duration of the contract. He and the team took advantage of each other, and they deserve to continue the marriage.
This. Same with Jose Leclerc.
Le clerc signed for same contract as Jansen, chapman who had amazing seasons despite much older. Le clerc would’ve been lucky to get half the amount by other teams.
I don’t see anyone giving them anything for him with that contract. Maybe a bad contract swap?
Love the line “those comments didn’t sit well with A’s brass” (Severino speaking out about pitching in a Sacramento AAA ballpark). Did they expect a major league pitcher to sing praises of that facility?
It would never happen in baseball, but the “A’s brass” shouldn’t even have a franchise right now.
I totally agree. I understand the As front office didn’t like the comments but the park is terrible. The As always when they were good had great offenses and mediocre pitchers protected by the coliseum.
However the current park does the opposite, they are 20th at road era (4.42) but 28th at home as a team (4.99). Can’t win like that, especially with a below average pitching staff.
They at least need to try to do something cheap like making walls a little higher
I love the park. The more offense the better. It’s a shame the Rays are going back to the Trop this year. Steinbrenner Field was another great park for hitters.
For fans maybe but not for the team. Pitchers not only give up more runs but also throw more pitches and get more fatigued so they struggle at home too.
Best is usually relatively neutral parks or if your team is well constructed selective parks (good for lefty, bad for right…)
“Those comments didn’t sit well with The San Francisco Giants, who feel the stadium is perfectly adequate for a team of the A’s stature.”
/s
Their beef was he spoke about it publicly to the media. I doubt they disagree with his sentiment. He was signed in part to avoid a grievance but also to be a leader for their young pitchers.
Brian
The first part yes.
The second part is to make the first part sound better to fans.
Duh and or hello
Mets surprisingly gave him an qualifying offer, and more surprisingly he turned it down. In retrospect, that decision worked well for both parties.
But Mets also signed manaea and montas as a result
LOL. It doesn’t sit well with A’s brass that players don’t like playing in a sub-par modified high school playing field, and then they say so publicly. Poor A’s brass.
Sevy knew what he was getting into. So I guess both parties are ridiculous.
The A’s getting “Salary Relief” in and of itself would be a high crime.
Arenado for Seve? Add some pieces either way.
I know it doesn’t help the A’s rotation but it damn sure helps their Defense. Nolan could hit some HRs in that park as well.
Make it happen.
“The Big Yo” has to be a Fisher family member at this point
scrooge mcfisher finally loosened the purse strings and it shockingly didn’t go so well .. who saw that coming ? ? ?
They won’t trade Severino “solely” for salary relief. That will just be an added benefit when they trade him. Fisher and his hirees are such bad liars.