Luis Severino Reportedly Decides His Fate on A's Player Option

In a somewhat unsurprising move, Luis Severino has reportedly decided to pick up his $22 million player option to stay with the Athletics for the 2027 campaign. The news was first reported by Mike Rodriguez of Rompiendo Sports.

As Athletics Roundtable wrote earlier this week, Severino's option may have been too good to pass up. He now gets a guaranteed $22 million, while Spotrac's projected market value for him was just $9.26 million. After he missed the final four months of the 2026 campaign with a right shoulder sprain, it would have been tough to see Sevvy get the same kind of money elsewhere.

Severino finished the 2026 season having completed his throwing progression and would have been ready for a rehab assignment if there were more time left in the season. He will be ready to go when camp opens in 2027. 

Severino signed with the A's ahead of their first season in Sacramento, inking a then-team-record three-year, $67 million deal to lead the A's pitching staff. That is still the record for a free agent contract, but Tyler Soderstrom's eight-year, $86 million extension is the largest overall contract in the team's history. The first two years of Severino's deal were guaranteed, while the third year was a player option for the 2027 season. 

The right-hander went 8-11 in his first season with the team, making 29 starts and holding a 4.54 ERA (4.11 FIP) across 162 ⅔ innings. The main takeaway from that season was how dominant he was on the road, holding a 3.02 ERA in 80 ⅓ innings, but a whopping 6.01 ERA at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.

He also didn't shy away from his troubles with the ballpark, telling The Athletic in June of 2025, "It feels like a spring training kind of game every time I pitch, and every time other guys pitch." 

He also mentioned that he's just being honest about his feelings because he knows that if he lied to the press, then they would find out the truth anyway. Despite the comments and reports to the contrary, Severino said that he had a good relationship with the front office and then-GM David Forst. 

Severino told us in July of 2025 that the comments that the team "couldn't wait to trade him" were untrue, and that he'd talked to Forst about them. Forst assured him that if he had a problem, he would have gone to Severino instead of the press, and Severino said he appreciated that. 

In 2026, Severino came out throwing harder, thanks in part to his preparation for the World Baseball Classic, and his stats improved a bit from the previous season. He finished with a 4.16 ERA (4.47 FIP) in 12 starts and held a 5.33 ERA in 25 ⅓ innings at home. 

While he has been the A's Opening Day starter for the past two years, he's a better option for the club as a No. 3 option. Severino is a veteran who has provided league-average innings, but will also make sure to provide enough innings during his starts that won't set the bullpen back for days at a time. 

Ideally the A's can find an arm to pair with J.T. Ginn atop the rotation, utilize Severino in the third spot, then Gage Jump and Jacob Lopez as the fourth and fifth options. That rotation would immediately have some upside.