On February 15th, 2019, the Yankees and Luis Severino agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract extension. The deal included a club option for 2023 that, if exercised, will make it worth $52.5 million. The young ace inked the deal a week before his 25th birthday, and the Yankees locked up one of the sport’s best young starters.
It seemed like a win-win at the time. Severino guaranteed himself life-changing money, and the Yankees avoided arbitration with one of the club’s best young stars… nothing to sneeze at considering they locked in cost certainty and avoided the possibility of ham-fisted bumbling during another prominent arbitration case.