The Tuesday Discussion: A Severino Trade?

July 1, 2025

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This week we asked our writers the following:

If you were the GM of the Yankees, would you trade for Luis Severino?

Here are their responses:

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Paul Semendinger - No. No way. No, please no. Luis Severino had two very special seasons with the Yankees... a long time ago. A trade for Severino would be the type of thing the Yankees do, bring back a former player with not much left. This would not be a smart move. At all.

The A's gave Severino a ridiculous contract. That contract should not become the Yankees' problem.

Thanks for the memories Luis, but your days as a Yankee should be over.

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James Vlietstra - I may Be in the minority but I don’t think that a starting pitcher is what the Yankees need. Pitching has been strong. They could use a good 3B so Chisholm can return to 2B. 

But I guess that’s not the question. Yes, I would trade for Severino, if needed. Although the last several pitchers the Yankees acquired from the Athletics didn’t work out very well. 

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Derek McAdam - As much as I miss seeing Severino in pinstripes, I wouldn’t bring him back to the Bronx. For starters, I’m not huge on bringing former Yankees back to the team, although there have been some good acquisitions over the past couple of years, such as Tommy Kahnle.

But regarding Severino, he did have a decent season in Queens last year with the Mets, which would be an encouraging sign. However, I’m not sure where he would slot into the rotation. As for now, the Yankees seem set with a rotation of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Marcus Stroman. Plus, Ryan Yarbrough and Luis Gil are making their way back from injuries and can be options.

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Andrew Hefner - I would absolutely not take another chance on Sevy. Don't get me wrong, I love Luis Severino and he was the ace of the Yankees teams that I first started watching in 2017-2019, but he is, and in my opinion will never be, the same pitcher he was back then. He did so much for the Yankees and rose through the ranks of one of the most competitive minor league systems in baseball, but his time in the Bronx is done. The Athletics took a chance and gave him a hefty contract, and I don't find it particularly smart for the Yankees to take on another contract like that to potentially put us in another Marcus Stroman situation, especially with Sevy's injury history. I wish him the best of luck with the rest of his career and again I thank him for all that he did for New York. 

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Ed Botti - Severino is interesting, and well liked. Although his stats may be somewhat misleading (2-9, 5.18 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) because he is pitching in a band box in Sacramento in the PCL, I think the Yankees need to look forward, not backwards. I would take a hard pass, he has 2 more years after 2025 and $47MM owed, and a  bad injury history. That money could be spent on fixing other spots on the team, and giving a guy like Cam Schlitter a look this summer. At the end of the day, would Sevy even get a post season start for the Yanks? I could see him pitching in Detroit, and the Yanks rocking him in October.

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Tim Kabel - I would not trade for Luis Severino. would prefer to wait for Luis Gil or call u Cam Schlittler. Racing for Severino would cost prospects a would be counterproductive. 

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Cary Greene - Severino's time in the Bronx has passed. He's sporting an 80 ERA+, his StatCast page indicates opposing batters are simply teeing off against him and it even feels like his days as a viable Major Leaguer are numbered. What usually happens to starters who are nearing the end of the line is that they turn to secondary pitches to possibly find a way to hang on --or-- they move to the bullpen. 

In Severino's case, he's radically altered his pitch usage since his time with the Yankees and unfortunately for him, his secondary pitches just aren't very good. These days, he primarily relies on a sweeper, his signature 4-seamer, a sinker and to a lesser degree, a cutter. While he's at his best in higher leverage situations, opposing right-handed batters are still managing to post a .300 wOBA against him - while left-handed batters are mangling him to the tune of a .356 wOBA. 

When Sevy was with the Yankees, he'd use his 4-seamer 55% of the time and it sat regularly in 96 to 97 mph range, but now, he only uses the once devastating pitch 24.5% of the time these days and it's lost almost 2 mph from where it used to sit. StatCast says the xwOBA on his four-seamer is up to .376 these days and that's simply a huge red flag. He's pounding the strike zone with the pitch but he's locating it mostly belt high and opposing batters are really doing a nice job of waiting for him to throw it in fastball counts. He's hardly using his Slider any more and ironically, it remains a pitch that opposing batters still have trouble with to this day. 

Could Sevy be "fixed" by Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake? Personally, I think his time as a starter is over, but he could be reshaped into a bridge reliever who specializes in taking on right-handed portions of lineups. If Blake were to have Sevy dramatically increase the use of his slider, while eliminating some of the secondary pitches, Sevy might be able to have some success and he might find a few ticks of extra velocity if a move to the bullpen occured. 

All this said, no! I would not want the Yankees to bring Sevy back to the Bronx for any reason. Many of the faithful here on SSTN used to be very fond of watching Sevy mow through opposing lineups, but I just don't think trading for Sevy in order to conduct an experiment is a prudent move. Granted, since MLB expanded the playoffs and also given that waiver-wire trades have also been abolished, it's true that relievers have been in very high demand at Trade Deadlines. This year's postseason road likely goes through Houston and Josh Hader or Detroit and Tarik Skubal. The Yankees are going to need to win low scoring, close games and they're going to need to hang around and try to outlast strong starting pitching, while also potentially needing to touch virtually unhittable closers. 

What the Yankees need is bridge relievers, they currently rank 12th in saves, with 23 and they rank 7th in holds with 47. If Devin Williams continues to right his ship - he posted an 0.93 ERA in the month of June, the Yankees are right back in business. The Yankees need help on offense right now, they're striking out far too much as a team (5th most in baseball, with 740). Whatever they wind up doing at the deadline, they've got to work to bring the strikeouts down and they have to get better at holding leads. Luis Severino likely can't be counted on to help, but there are other priority trade targets out there. 

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Note - ChatGPT created the grapic of the two GM's.