As expected, the A’s are having another rough season.
What maybe wasn’t as predictable was Luis Severino’s wildly up-and-down first year with them after signing as a free agent after the right-hander’s strong bounce-back season with the Mets a year ago.
Given Severino’s struggles at the A’s temporary home in Sacramento — a Triple-A ballpark — and his success on the road so far this year, he’s already been mentioned as a potential trade target.
As The Post’s Jon Heyman wrote Thursday, the 31-year-old is “a trade candidate.”
With the Mets in desperate need of starting pitching, with Griffin Canning the latest to be lost with a season-ending injury, Severino was asked Saturday if he’d be interested in getting moved by the deadline.
“I’m not thinking about that,’’ he said prior to the A’s 7-0 win over the Yankees at the Stadium, with Severino set to pitch against his former team for the first time in The Bronx on Sunday. “I’m just trying to concentrate on doing my job and getting better.”
Severino is well aware that he’s been brutal at home (0-7, 6.79 ERA with a 1.596 WHIP in 10 starts at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento) and mostly superb on the road (2-1, 2.27 with a 1.031 WHIP in seven outings).
“It hasn’t been the best year so far, but I’m healthy,’’ said Severino, who’s already at 100 ²/₃ innings this year after pitching 182 with the Mets last year, plus another 16 ²/₃ in the playoffs. “I’ve been really bad at home. I hope from now on or after the [All-Star] break it gets better and I figure it out.”
That’s presuming Severino is still with the A’s at that point.
He said he hasn’t heard of any teams being interested in acquiring him.
“So it’s not hard for me to focus here,’’ Severino said. “For me, I have to do my job. If [a trade] happens, it happens. I’ll be ready. My main thing is being healthy.”
Of the Mets, with whom he resurrected his career in 2024 after an ugly end to his long tenure with the Yankees, Severino said, “It’s not up to me. They were great to me last year, so if it happened, I definitely won’t say no, but it’s about whatever [the A’s] need.”
Severino previously said he told his agent he would stay with the Mets for two years and $40 million, but the club was willing to go only as far as it did with Frankie Montas, who signed a two-year, $34 million deal.
After this season, Severino is still owed $47 million over the next two years.
Severino has been outspoken about the difficulty in pitching at a minor league stadium — an issue he was well aware of when he signed the three-year, $67 million contract to go to the A’s.
“I knew it was a young team, but I wasn’t expecting the field to play like it has,’’ Severino said. “I want to do better there. I just have to figure out how to pitch better at home.”
Wherever that may be.
