Yankees and Luis Severino agree to 4 year, $40 million extension

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post the Yankees and staff ace Luis Severino agreed to a four year, $40M extension that will buy out his arbitration years. The deal also includes a fifth-year club option worth $15M in 2023 that covers one season of free agency.

We’ve heard rumblings in recent days that the Yankees and Severino were in extension talks before he was scheduled to have his arbitration hearing on Friday. On January 11th, it was announced that the Yanks and Severino would head to arbitration after they offered to pay him $4.4M next season while Sevy and his representatives were hoping for $5.25M.

Things could have turned sour at the hearings as they did with Dellin Betances last year so it’s good to see the sides come to an agreement that will keep him in pinstripes for at least the next four seasons.

My takeaway from the news is this a good deal for both sides, especially the Yankees. They were able to lock up one of best young starters in baseball for the next four to five years and will only have to pay him a total of 52.5M if they decide to exercise his club option for 2023.

As for Sevy this a solid payday for him. He could’ve waited things out and bet on himself for the remainder of his arbitration years before he entered free agency but you can’t blame him for turning down potentially $52.5M. If he continued to put up All-Star numbers for the next four years he might have received more in arbitration on a yearly basis but he’ll still make a salary of at least $10m starting in 2020.

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Sevy will make $10.25M in 2021 and $11M in 2022 before the Yankees can exercise his $15M club option in 2023. He’ll have a chance to enter free agency at age 30 so he should be in line to secure another big contract if he hits the open market.

This is a similar extension to the one Phillies ace Aaron Nola signed yesterday for the next four years worth $45M. The main difference is the Phillies will cover two years of free agency with their agreement and Nola will be 31 when he can become a free agent.

Sevy is definitely deserving of this extension after he posted back to back All-Star seasons and cemented himself as the ace of the Yankees rotation at such a young age. Last season he had a first-half where he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball but struggled in the second half due to some fatigue and a propensity for tipping his pitches.

He said he enters camp this season 12-15 lbs lighter and changed his workout routine to make sure he can stay strong throughout the course of the 162 game season. He’s also identified how he was tipping pitches so you can bet he and the coaching staff will make a conscious effort to make sure that problem doesn’t arise again.

With Sevy now locked up, there’s a possibility the Yankees try and do the same thing with fellow Baby Bombers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. It would certainly benefit them because once all their young stars reach free agency in the next four to six years they’re probably going to cost a ton to sign and it would be very difficult to keep all of them.