30-year-old right-handed pitcher Luis Severino is leaving the Mets to sign with the Athletics and he is getting paid handsomely by his new club.
Severino enjoyed a strong season with New York, helping lead the Mets to an appearance in the NLCS against the Dodgers. He was a starter in three games for New York during their postseason, lasting six innings in two of his starts.
While he played an important role in the rotation for the Mets, he was not necessarily throwing consistently like a bona fide staff ace either.
Yet as a free agent, he just managed to sign what became the largest contract guarantee in franchise history for the Athletics, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. New York will receive draft compensation in return. Here are more details about the move (via ESPN):
“By stretching themselves financially — their previous high deal was a six-year, $66 million extension for Eric Chavez in 2004, and their biggest free agent outlay was three years and $30 million for Billy Butler — the A’s convinced Severino to anchor their rotation.”
Although he is far from a scrub and has made two MLB All-Star appearances during his professional career, a three-year deal for $67 million is considered “well above” his market expectations.
Some believed that Severino would have accepted a one-year qualifying deal worth approximately $21.0 million, but instead, he will make more annually over three seasons.
However, for the next few seasons, Severino will pitch his home games in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento before the franchise eventually settles in Las Vegas.
Perhaps the Athletics overpaid to land his services in their starting rotation due to their unusual relocation, but if this is an indication of how much it will cost to land a quality starter, teams must prepare to loosen their purse strings.
Either way, this would have been an expensive bill for Steve Cohen and the Mets that the Athletics will pay instead.
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