{"id":328614,"date":"2025-12-06T07:57:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T07:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328614\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T07:57:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T07:57:26","slug":"as-not-pursuing-severino-salary-dump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328614\/","title":{"rendered":"A’s Not Pursuing Severino Salary Dump"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletics made\u00a0Luis Severino<\/a> 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\u2019s Sutter Health Park in a conversation with The Athletic\u2019s Brendan Kuty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those comments reportedly didn\u2019t sit well with A\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Aside from a three-week injured list stint due to an oblique strain, the second half performance was what the A\u2019s front office had in mind when they signed Severino. As they enter another offseason that\u2019ll 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<\/a> write that the A\u2019s are not interested in trading Severino in a pure salary dump. While they\u2019re not taking him off the table in talks, it seems they\u2019re demanding a legitimate return on top of another club taking his contract off the books.<\/p>\n

Severino is still owed a $5MM signing bonus, which will be paid next January 15. (The A\u2019s would be responsible for that even if they traded him within the next month.) He\u2019ll make a $20MM salary next year and has a $22MM player option for the 2027 campaign. It\u2019s 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\u2019s would not be able to make him another QO if he retests the market.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a terrible contract, but it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The ideal outcome for the team is that Severino pitches like a #3 starter next season and opts out. He\u2019d only exercise the player option if he pitched poorly enough that he doesn\u2019t feel it\u2019d be smart to walk away from a $22MM salary. Unsurprisingly, it doesn\u2019t appear teams are willing to offer the A\u2019s a strong trade package. Sammon and Rosenthal write that interested clubs would only take on Severino\u2019s contract if they don\u2019t need to give up significant talent.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t achieve a whole lot for the A\u2019s, assuming the front office and ownership aren\u2019t shopping him solely because of his criticism of the temporary stadium arrangement. Severino and\u00a0Jeffrey Springs<\/a> are their only returning starters who topped 100 innings. The rotation had a 4.85 ERA overall, the fourth-highest mark in MLB. Rookies\u00a0Jacob Lopez<\/a> and\u00a0Luis Morales<\/a> showed promise, but starting pitching remains the team\u2019s biggest need. That\u2019s particularly true given how hitter-friendly the Sacramento park plays \u2014 putting a greater toll on the A\u2019s young arms. They may face similar challenges to last offseason in convincing free agent starters to sign there.<\/p>\n

Severino, Springs,\u00a0Brent Rooker<\/a> and\u00a0Lawrence Butler<\/a> are the only players on guaranteed deals. They have one of the lightest arbitration classes in MLB. RosterResource<\/a> 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\u2019s also right around where they opened the \u201925 campaign. In addition to their rotation need, they\u2019re aiming to add a high-leverage reliever and could pursue second and\/or third base help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletics made\u00a0Luis Severino the highest-paid player in franchise history last winter. The first season of his three-year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,12321,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-328614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-luis-severino","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}