Right-hander Luis Severino is “likely” to decline the qualifying offer extended to him by the Mets earlier this month, according to a report from Will Sammon of The Athletic . Sammon adds that Severino “loves” playing in New York but is now expected to attempt to land a multi-year deal in free agency this winter. Severino, 30, is entering free agency for the second time this year.
The right-hander entered the open market last winter coming off a disastrous 2023 season with the Yankees where he surrendered a 6.65 ERA in 89 1/3 innings of work and landed with the Mets on a one-year, $13M deal. That deal went quite well, as he pitched to a league average 3.
91 ERA (101 ERA+) with a 4.21 ERA in 182 innings of work. He struck out 21.
2% of opponents while walking batters at just a 7.9% clip. Those are all solid but unspectacular numbers, but that mid-to-back of the rotation production can still earn a strong guarantee in free agency, as the likes of Jameson Taillon and Taijuan Walker have in recent years (albeit without the QO attached).
Given that, it’s perhaps not much of a surprise that Severino would look to beat the one-year, $21.05M qualifying offer. MLBTR predicted a three-year, $51M contract for Severino earlier this winter after the Mets attached a QO to him.
That guarantee is in line with what veteran right-hander Michael Wacha received from the Royals just before free agency opened, and Wacha was viewed as a similarly borderline candidate for a QO as Severino wa.