Right-hander Luis Severino has agreed to a three-year deal with the A’s, a source told MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi on Thursday afternoon. The deal, which has not been confirmed by the club, is expected to be worth $67 million, and would represent the largest guarantee in the history of the A’s franchise.
Severino, who will enter his age-31 season, had one of baseball’s most impressive comebacks in 2024 after signing with the Mets following a string of injury-plagued seasons. In his first full season since 2018, he made 31 starts, posting a 3.91 ERA with 161 strikeouts in 182 innings.
The veteran right-hander was originally signed by the Yankees as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in December 2011 and debuted four years later. In 2017, his first full season in the big league rotation, he went 14-6 with a 2.98 ERA (152 ERA+) and racked up 230 strikeouts in 193 1/3 innings, earning his first All-Star selection and a third-place finish in the AL Cy Young Award voting behind winner Corey Kluber and runner-up Chris Sale.
Severino followed up with another All-Star season in 2018, but soon after, his promising career was derailed by injuries. He suffered right rotator cuff inflammation and a Grade 2 lat strain during Spring Training in 2019, limiting him to just three starts in September. In February 2020, he underwent Tommy John surgery, which he returned from in late ‘21.
Although marginally healthier in his final two years with the Yankees, he suffered two recurrences of the right lat injury (2022-23) and an additional left oblique strain (’23). The unfortunate streak culminated in a tough walk year in 2023 in which he was the fifth-worst pitcher in baseball by run value (-29) despite making just 18 starts.
Despite his injury history, Severino has retained much of the velocity — his four-seamer averaged 96.2 mph in 2024 — but he is definitely a different pitcher than the hard-throwing budding ace from his early Yankees days. Now relying more on soft contact than whiffs, he’s incorporated a hard sinker and an excellent sweeper against which opponents hit .139 last season.
In nine Major League seasons, Severino is 65-44 with a career 3.81 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP and 949 strikeouts in 909 1/3 innings pitched.
