Luis Severino’s trip through free agency could lead him to another New York borough, as the former Yankees right-hander has gotten some interest from the Mets, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports. Mets officials are planning a meeting with the 29-year-old to explore the possibility of a deal between the two sides.
A reunion with the Yankees doesn’t appear to be happening for Severino, but at least eight teams were known to have some level of interest in the two-time All-Star. It’s probably safe to guess that an even higher number will at least check in before the offseason is over, given the widespread need for pitching around the league and Severino’s potential as a reclamation project.
Severino’s career got off to such a promising start that the Yankees signed him to a four-year, $40MM extension prior to the 2019 season, a rare move for a team that usually doesn’t explore contract extensions on general principal. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they perhaps should’ve stuck to their policy in this case, as Severino’s career went into a tailspin due to injuries. He pitched only 18 total big league innings from 2019-21, primarily due to Tommy John surgery but with shoulder, lat, and groin problems also contributing to those three lost years.
More lat injuries limited Severino’s availability in 2022, but he at least returned to pitch 102 innings and post a 3.18 ERA, so the Bombers exercised their $15MM club option on the righty’s services for 2023. This was another transaction that backfired, as Severino again battled injuries (an oblique strain and another lat strain) en route to a 6.65 ERA in 89 1/3 frames.
In all likelihood, Severino and his agents at Rep 1 Baseball will be aiming for a one-year contract this winter. (MLBTR projected him for a one-year, $14MM pact.). This would allow Severino to re-enter the market next winter, theoretically after he has enjoyed the type of healthy and productive season that would serve as a better platform for a pricey multi-year commitment. As noted earlier, many teams would be fits for Severino, and his willingness to take a one-year deal would open the door to offers from both big spenders and smaller-market clubs.
This means that in lieu of a bidding war based purely on money, Severino might prioritize environment and an organization with a track record of rejuvenating pitchers’ careers. The Mets themselves don’t have that kind of reputation, but new president of baseball operations David Stearns is coming from a Brewers team that had a knack for developing and finding plenty of hidden-gem arms over the years. Heading to Queens would also allow Severino to remain in New York, and once again play for Carlos Mendoza, as the new Mets skipper spent the previous six seasons on the Yankees’ coaching staff.
Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana are the only locks for the Amazins rotation in 2024, so it isn’t any surprise that the Mets are looking to acquire at least two more arms to a staff that also has Tylor Megill, Jose Butto, Joey Lucchesi, and (after a midseason return from hip surgery) David Peterson in the mix for starts. Severino may not be the most stable of options given his long injury history, yet with the Mets willing to spend at high end of the market, the team has the flexibility to pursue both frontline arms and slightly lower-cost fliers like Severino.
Headline should read, “Mets shopping in bargain bin.”
Over and under somebody signs before thanksgiving
I say one big free agent and one middle of the pack guy. Hopefully soon, bland off-season this far but it’s early yet.
I say none of the big ones will sign before thanksgiving. The week after is when the market will pick up
Yeah you may be right, for entertainments sake I hope we get one this week though.
1 big Free agent-check, 1 middle size size free agent incoming soon hopefully. Lucky guess lol
I think a $14MM base is a little high with his health uncertainties. Something more like $10MM base plus incentives up to $7MM and a guaranteed rotation spot would be a more palatable risk. With that said, I think Sevy has the stuff to be a good closer if he’s willing.
Thats an interesting idea. Unfortunately the mets are probably looking at him for a back end sp spot, but the RP option intrigues me more.
No team with sense, though, is going to give a ‘guaranteed rotation spot’ to Severino, given even Severino has no idea when and if he can pitch. If he’s pitching as in 2023 he won’t make it to the mound in MLB. If he’s pitching to a projectable 6+ ERA again they’ll either shut him down or keep him in Syracuse. These aren’t the Cohen-Eppler Mets or the Cohen-Alderson Mets.
If he’s pitching as he did in 2023 Severino will about as bad as Carrasco was. No team that’s remotely well run tolerates that nonsense, especially w/ a guy who’ll be a FA the following year.
Not our money. Why should we care? Well, because the money comes from somewhere and if its from game tickets a nurse cannot afford or a tv package a nurse cannot afford then a nurse really cannot be a fan anymore i guess.
It also impacts x-ray Technicians, dental hygienists, and receptionists at proctologist offices
The nurse should probably take an econ course
Note: I know nurses don’t have free time
Ticket prices aren’t high because players get paid a lot. Players get paid a lot because people spend a lot of money on baseball.
Yep, if the players got paid minimum wage tickets would still be $120…..stop being deliberately obtuse. It’s not the only reason but it’s a contributing factor.
Dn
“Yep, if the players got paid minimum wage tickets would still be $120…..stop being deliberately obtuse. It’s not the only reason but it’s a contributing factor.”
Uhhh…they would
Why would a company charge $100 for their product if people were willing to pay $120?
@In nurse follars We also care or find it interesting because (say) 1om guaranteed to Severino is 10m not spent elsewhere. We discovered even Cohen has limits, so in its way this is similar to the $87m intended for Scherzer and Verlander in 2023.
Had the Mets had an actual plan, an $87m AAV since Cohen bought the team buys you four Cy Young candidates rather than two ancient horses who even if their regular seasons were good enough to carry the team to the postseason, would almost certainly be cooked by the end of September and of limited / no value in the postseason itself.
$10m for Severino isn’t bad if the Mets are aiming for a 6-man rotation with the #6 spot to include Severino, Lucchesi, and Butto.
If on the other hand they want Severino to take the #4 slot and are planning once again on a combination of Lucchesi, Butto, Megill, and eventually Peterson for the #5 slot…. Ugh.
Dodgers too
In free agency I will take
1 Ohtani
1 Sonny Gray
1 Severino
And a Michael Brantley
I think that he could be a nice bounce-back option
@Flanster Sure, but does he make sense for the Mets? :0)
The Tampa Tays will have this guy, Severino”, as the starting pitcher in the All Star game.
I think the Rampa Rays will get him.
I doubt he signs until all the better options are off the board. He will wait for team that gets desperate at the end.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Luis Severino, and relievers is all I ask.
Are we riding with Baty, Vientos, Mauricio?
I think they’ll either ride w mauricio or trade him. I personally think they should go w baty and vientos to see if they adjust. Baty has always been touted and has clear talent, but seemed to struggle mentally at times. Vientos has generally needed time to adjust as he graduated levels in milb, and his improvement in sept showed maybe he’s beginning to acclimate. I don’t see a point in bringing in a veteran FA in what clearly seems like a reset year.
@Ma4170 Trading the only guy on the roster who can play 3B is interesting.
Neither Baty nor Vientos can play 3B. They can’t do it. And if we don’t cherrypick Vientos’ numbers (no offense intended) his improvement in Sept was trivial. Sept 6-Oct 1 his line was .207/.235/.390/.626. Aka awful.
If the Mets sign no one they project to roughly 68-70 wins. If they make a run for Yamamoto, who makes mores sense for them than anyone else given his age and how that and his skills translate to any scenario the Mets take including branching ones where they succeed / fail in 2024, they project for 72-74 wins. They’ll still need two SP, at least. Do you now try to build for 85 wins given the road the third wildcard offers to the postseason, or do you try to sign Yamamoto telling him that you’re only aiming for 75-78 wins in 2024, something that probably precludes his signing with you if he’s even considering doing so currently?
The Mets road to contending in 2024 is incredibly expensive given their payroll for LT purposes is already over $270 million. Might we see something horrifying like this?
Senga-Montgomery-Quintana-Severino-Lucchesi / Vasil / Hamil / Scott
Nimmo
McNeil LF
Lindor
Alonso
DJ Stewart / Marte
Mauricio 2B
Alvarez
Baty 3B
Vientos DH
Diaz-Raley-Smith-5 more guys
No-name bench
—-We might see something a lot like that if this really is a ‘pausing’ year.
I wouldnt make the assumption that they wont improve – I would actually lean more toward some improvement from them. I think mauricio has trade value and hence why he might be moved if they can get a quality sp. i don’t think signing a JD martinez type for a year or two does much to attract yamamoto in 2024 or even help them more than a few wins. Money and a strong farm would probably be more attractive. We’ll see, but giving up on the prospects already seems short sighted to me.
I would not be comfortable signing Severino for anything more than a minor league deal.
Guys that still throw 97 mph when they stink, are most likely gonna get a major league deal. I’m usually pretty conservative on high risk deals, but I think I’d take a 10M flyer on Luis Severino. On a 1 yr deal, Severino is just too enticing to resist.
SN
Well, I’ll take the over on Severino signing a minor league deal this year
I will too. Somebody will pay him.
If he wants a good pitching coach to fix his issues, Detroit is a good landing spot for him.
Hahah of course they would. It is the Mets after all. Paying cherry Red lips Lindor premium salary for that smile. Now they wanna sign Injuredino ahh Mets
They need at least 2 SP. Shooting high on trade and FA arms a wise plan, but NYM should let these position player prospects show themselves. ATL and PHI still significantly better teams. You won’t equal them overnight.
@10centBeerNight The Mets really do need to add at least 4 starting pitchers.
Senga and Quintana project for fewer than 50 starts. That leaves at least 112 to go. If you get 28 starts from each of four pitchers, that’s the missing 112, but you’re unlikely to get 28 starts from four FA starters.
A lot depends on where they think Hamil, Vasil, and Scott are in their development, whether they think those three and Peterson coming back from injury are likely to offer MLB=caliber starting pitching (say a 90 ERA+), particularly after the ASB after they’ve seen where they are in the first half.
Maybe they scrimp, or maybe Severino’s the guy they think fits well with their scrum of Hamil, Vasil, Scott, Lucchesi, Butto, Peterson, and Megill in the “#6 slot and long relief” category such that they can use a 6-man rotation with ample padding in case of injury to the front five.
How good is Stearns? We’ll find out a lot about that this offseason. It’s a pity he thinks he’s dealing with nuclear secrets. I much prefer a GM / PBOPs with the confidence and chops to tell fans as much as they can without giving away positions, rather than telling fans as little as they can, which seems to be Stearns’ approach.
—-fwiw, the Mets don’t need to equal ATL and PHI—they just need to make the last wildcard slot. Cheers,
I don’t mind them picking up Severino but he is always hurt. I’d be good with a 1 year 8 mil deal with a club option for 15 million for year 2. That would be fair for both sides
Fragile proceed with caution.
Probably worth an upside play, but doubt he can give more than 100 innings in 2024. Question is, will they be bad 2023 Severino innings, or good 2018 Severino innings, the last time he was good with any significant volume? Six years is a long time in baseball.
Glad to see the Thriftpons are back. Double coupon week.
damn being called thrifty while still paying out more than anyone …
i guess we can go for cheers for some of the other bigger payrolls
lets go ny discountees …the boston cheap sox… the la discounters … the philly reducies … the san diego pennies.
If you’re looking to fill out your IL he’s your guy
One thing I’d like MLBTR to do is to factor in CBT penalties when they identifying paying teams as possible suitors for a player. It’s going to cost the Mets more than a team under the cap for the same player. How much could play a role in his contract and in the bidding generally.
1 year five mil ? 8 mil ?
Didn’t rebuild project Noah Syndagaard get 13 M from the Dodgers last yr?
Yup, which was a little odd, given that Syndergaard went 10-10 in 2022 with a 3.94 ERA and a 3.83 FIP in 134 innings. I think the extremely low K rate alarmed suitors.
Teams should steer clear
Good Riddance Sevy. Good luck somewhere else
Mets should sign Nola and Montgomery. Both are durable. Neither is an ace in the parlance of, say, a Tom Seaver. However, both are solid #2 types, and that’s darn good.
Mets will sign Yamamoto, Soler, 3-4 RP and trade for Cease. They should give Senzel a shot. It’s low risk. Mauricio and Vientos to Chisox.
Might as well take a flyer on him. Up until 2019, he had really decent numbers but fell off the radar after that. Don’t expect Cy Young performance but probably a decent 3-4 guy in the rotation.
Career GB% of 45.3% and career kwERA of approximately 3.125, the calculated GBkwERA is approximately 4.26.
Please don’t call them the “Amazins”. Do you call the Reds the “Big Red Machine”? The Red Sox the “Cardiac Kids”? The A’s the “The Swingin A’s”? The Phillies the “Whiz Kids”?
The Amazins was the Championship team of ’69
The actors change but the stage remains the same. 🙁
This thought that anything Yankee is good for the Mets is painful.
Severino SUCKS and in no way should the Mets go near him.
GM changes, President of BO changes and the stupidity continues.
This guy was in the Cy Young conversation at one point. Sad how his career was derailed by injuries and plummeted