The A’s and free agent righty Luis Severino are in settlement on a three-year, $67MM contract studies ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal features a $10MM signing bonus and $57MM of wage over the three years, Yahoo’s Russell Dorsey provides. Severino can decide out after the second yr of the contract, per Passan. Severino is represented by Klutch Sports activities.
It’ll register as a shock for a lot of to see the nomadic A’s, who will play subsequent yr in West Sacramento’s Sutter Well being Park (residence to the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate), land a notable free agent with a hefty multi-year deal. They’re within the strategy of relocating to Las Vegas and have been aggressively pursuing free brokers in an effort to spice up a payroll that entered the offseason and not using a single contract on the books in 2025. Some free brokers — Walker Buehler amongst them — have completely dismissed the notion of enjoying in a minor league facility. Nonetheless, with a reported goal payroll within the $100MM vary, there’s lengthy been a chance for the A’s to be a shock participant in free company. MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald explored simply such a chance at size final month.
The overall considering has been that the A’s might want to overpay so as to pursue top-end free brokers this winter. The phrases of Severino’s contract certainly recommend a transparent willingness to spend properly past market expectations so as to lure free brokers to their new residence. Severino’s deal contains each a bigger assure than most anticipated and an opt-out alternative. As a result of he rejected a qualifying supply from the Mets, Severino will value the A’s their third-highest decide in subsequent yr’s draft. He’ll additionally internet the Mets a compensatory decide, albeit solely between the fourth and fifth rounds due to their standing as a luxurious tax payor.
The $100MM goal payroll possible stems from the Athletics’ standing as a revenue-sharing recipient. The franchise was stripped of its revenue-sharing advantages final decade after failing to sufficiently make the most of these funds to enhance the on-field product, as is a stipulated requirement. The 2022-26 collective bargaining settlement restored the A’s as a revenue-sharing recipient, they usually’ve since spent modestly in free company to maintain payroll not less than in line with the opposite lowest-spending golf equipment within the league. The cope with Severino alerts a willingness to spend a bit past that time. It’s, extremely, the most important contract in franchise historical past, nominally surpassing the six-year, $66MM contract extension signed by third baseman Eric Chavez greater than 20 years in the past.
[Related: The Largest Salary In Franchise History For Each MLB Team]
Severino, 31, will instantly bounce to the highest of the A’s rotation. He’s possible ticketed for his or her Opening Day begin, barring one other notable acquisition through free company or commerce. He’ll lead a employees that at the moment tasks to additionally embrace JP Sears, Mitch Spence and Joey Estes. The A’s have a wide range of in-house candidates for the fifth spot, although the Severino deal somewhat clearly opens the door for GM David Forst to signal/commerce for an additional starter of observe to additional solidify the bunch.
Severino, in fact, regarded the a part of a budding ace for the Yankees in 2017-18 when he posted 384 2/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 28.8% strikeout fee, 6.2% stroll fee and 45.8% grounder fee in his age-23 and age-24 seasons. The flamethrowing righty averaged higher than 97 mph on his heater, recorded a hefty 12.7% swinging-strike fee and customarily had the makings of a star. The Yankees agreed, signing him to a four-year, $40MM extension with an possibility for a fifth season.
That deal purchased out all of Severino’s arbitration years and his first free-agent season. On the time, some thought a pitcher along with his upside and demonstrated excellence so far was maybe promoting himself brief. In the long term, it labored out splendidly, as accidents continuously saved Severino off the sphere and rendered him a shell of his former self when wholesome sufficient to take the mound. From 2019-23, Severino managed solely 209 1/3 innings within the majors, coping with a number of lat strains and requiring Tommy John surgical procedure alongside the best way. His 2023 marketing campaign included 89 1/3 frames with a 6.65 ERA.
The 2024 season marked a resurgence for Severino, who inked a one-year, $13MM cope with the Mets on the heels of that injury-plagued end to his Yankees tenure. The best-hander’s 182 innings almost matched his whole over the 5 prior calendar years. He logged a 3.91 ERA with a below-average however satisfactory 21.2% strikeout fee and a robust 7.6% stroll fee. His 46% ground-ball fee, whereas not elite, was comfortably north of league common.
On the identical time, Severino merely wasn’t the dominant drive he was earlier in his profession. His common fastball with the Mets was about 1.5 mph off from its peak ranges. His 9.4% swinging-strike fee was decidedly below-average — a close to mirror-image of his 9.1% mark in that disastrous 2023 season and nowhere near his career-best 13.3% fee. Opponents made contact on simply 81.9% of Severino’s pitches inside the strike zone in 2017-18 — league-average was 84.7% — however did so at a whopping 88.2% clip in 2024 (when the league common was 85.2%).
When the Mets signed Severino to his one-year deal, it had the makings of an upside play on a former front-of-the-rotation arm. Final yr’s rebound confirmed that he was wholesome but additionally appeared to additional assist the notion that his prior ace-caliber type is within the rearview mirror. Severino now has the texture of a 3rd or fourth starter, making his $22.333MM annual wage and an opt-out somewhat jarring.
Many pundits thought Severino may have — and will have — accepted the Mets’ $21.05MM qualifying supply; he and his brokers deserve credit score for not merely eclipsing that assure in notable trend however surpassing that quantity on an annual foundation over a prolonged deal that affords him one other chunk at free company within the 2026-27 offseason. The contract tops latest ensures for Chris Bassitt, who was seen as a gentle and reliable No. 2-3 arm, and Yusei Kikuchi, whose torrid end with the Astros made him some of the sought-after pitchers on this offseason’s market. Each pitchers signed for $63MM over the identical three-year time period.
For the A’s, a dedication this weighty was possible deemed a necessity to land a mid-rotation arm whose velocity and ground-ball tendencies maybe create some hope that he can nonetheless eke out some incremental enhancements over his 2024 type. That stated, there’s fairly a little bit of harm threat nonetheless related to Severino, and fielding-independent metrics like FIP (4.21) and SIERA (4.22) had been really extra bearish on his 2024 efficiency than his already solid-but-unspectacular earned run common. There’s little doubt he improves the membership and reveals that the A’s are severe about spending this winter, nevertheless it’s a steep worth to pay when taken in totality.
Severino will however add some credibility to a rotation that was largely missing it. And the A’s, with a burgeoning core of high quality gamers — Brent Rooker, Mason Miller, JJ Bleday, Lawrence Butler, Shea Langeliers — may hope that a number of subsequent additions and strides from younger abilities like Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof would possibly assist them exceed expectations ahead of most thought potential.
