In a perfect world, the Yankees would have starting pitcher Luis Severino locked up on a long-term deal after developing him for the better side of 10 years.
Unfortunately, Severino experienced significant injury adversity, being shut down multiple times and undergoing Tommy John surgery. Unfortunately, Severino’s future with the Yankees came to an end following the 2023 season, which was anticipated given his struggles.
The 29-year-old right-handed pitcher posted a 6.65 ERA across 89.1 innings, recording a career-low 7.96 strikeouts per nine. His left-on-base rate plummeted to 65.9% and he simply struggled to get out of bad situations. However, his velocity did increase slightly, which does bode well for his future with the New York Mets.
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The Mets are hoping to get Severino at a discount, having signed a one-year, $13 million deal to move across town. With that being said, he has the velocity and if Severino can compound his confidence and regain his spin rates, he could be an effective starter in Queens. However, Sevy never imagined leaving the Yankees, so the entire situation caught him by surprise.
While the Mets have reinforced their rotation to a degree, the Yankees are still looking for support. They’ve been connected to every arm available under the sun, but they haven’t found the right option just yet. Losing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a significant deal and they’re having problems committing over $150 million to Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell.
Both are represented by Scott Boras and are commanding significant money. The more likely scenario is the Yankees bring in a cheaper starter like Marcus Stroman and pair him with a trade, having already been linked to Dylan Cease, Jesus Luzardo, and Shane Bieber.
Taking a more cost-efficient approach now is advisable since the Yankees can make a strong run at Corbin Burnes next off-season or try to acquire him at a deadline over the summer, which would be a much more affordable route and guarantee his health. Nonetheless, Severino will be looking to kickstart his career after a downward trend the past few seasons and he doesn’t even have to move cities to do it.