Yankees reportedly sign Luis Severino to four-year, $40 million extension

The Yankees and Luis Severino had an arbitration hearing scheduled for today. Thankfully both parties can clear their calendars, because the Bombers reportedly inked Severino to a four-year, $40 million contract extension. Joel Sherman first had the news, while Jeff Passan noted the deal includes a club option for year five.

Prior to the agreement, the Yankees and Severino had a difference of $800,000 between their arbitration figures. The right-hander filed for $5.25 million, while the front office countered with $4.4 million. Jon Heyman noted a few days ago that the sides had discussed an extension, but as of last night were not particularly close. It looks like they made up ground quickly.

Passan offers a quick rundown on the financials, which appears to be a team-friendly deal:

Severino, 24, pitched to a 3.39 ERA (2.95 FIP) in 2018. That total, however, doesn’t portray the whole story. The right-hander posted a 48 ERA- through the end of June, finding himself in legitimate Cy Young conversations. From July on, that ballooned to a disastrous 120 ERA-. Nonetheless, Severino is just two years removed from a top-three finish in the 2017 Cy Young balloting. He has demonstrated that he can handle front-line starter duties.

We’ll have a more in-depth breakdown of the deal shortly. For now it appears that Severino took the sure thing, while the Yankees received a good deal of financial flexibility.