Luis Severino Just Landed The Largest Guaranteed Contract In A's History For a Grand Total Of $67 Million

Jim McIsaac. Getty Images.

And your first "what the fuck" signing of the offseason goes to the....A's? 

My initial reaction here is to be just genuinely happy for Luis Severino. This dude has been through it over the years. It is so fucking difficult for a starting pitcher to survive their six years of service time and reach free agency with how the current system is constructed. Pitcher's elbows/shoulders love nothing more than exploding into a million pieces. It's one thing to become a premier starting pitcher in the MLB, but navigating your early years without major injury is the most dangerous minefield a baseball player can tiptoe around. 

Sevy went through hell and back to reach this point. Yes he took a short term cheap deal with the Yankees to make some money before all this, but there was a period in time where he was ticketed for a massive payday. Injuries never allowed that to happen. After dominant 2017 and 2018 seasons, 2019-2021 were a disaster. 2022 was a nice surprise, but was followed by a nightmare 2023 campaign that honestly made many wonder if he could ever be a competent pitcher ever again. The Mets took a flier on him this past season and it paid off big time. Sevy amassed the most innings in a season since 2018 and posted a sub 4.00 ERA. Despite a qualifying offer attached to him he somehow struck gold with a $67M deal to pitch for the A's. Sure it's the A's, but if you're Sevy you can't pass that kind of money up. I imagine no team in the sport came close to that number considering you had to give up a draft pick on top of the signing. 

It's hilarious the A's giving Sevy $67M is the biggest guaranteed contact in the franchise's history. Hilarious and pathetic. Further shows you how John Fisher shouldn't be allowed to own a team. According to Passan they have intentions of having a $100M payroll in 2025. The big spending A's! Again, that shouldn't be news because all these owners are rich. Turns out behind the scenes there were concerns from the players association and owners about their lack of spending. They apparently had to increase payroll so they could remain in the revenue sharing plan with the rest of the league. Also I imagine Manfred told him you gotta start spending if we're gonna allow you to move to Vegas. Luis Severino was just the lucky guy at the top of their list. Congrats to Sevy for being this year's Kris Bryant!