WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Luis Severino was willing to give the Mets a significant discount to retain him last winter, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in Queens.
The right-hander received a three-year contract worth $67 million from the A’s — he is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale at Sutter Health Park — but on Friday, he revealed what he would have accepted to stay with the Mets, with whom he thrived last season.
According to Severino, his agent told the Mets he was willing to stay on a two-year deal worth $40 million.
“I was trying to stay with the Mets,” Severino said. “I actually asked for less money to stay there. But I was not in their plans. At the beginning, I was shocked, but at the end, it was business and they needed to take care of other stuff.”
Severino’s recollection is the Mets told his agent he would have to be willing to accept the two-year contract worth $34 million that Frankie Montas received from the club.
“For me, I think that wasn’t fair,” said Severino, who rejected a qualifying offer from the Mets worth $21.05 million for this season after pitching to a 3.91 ERA in 31 starts for the team last year.
Severino, 31, cited the fact he stayed healthy last season — after spending much of his Yankees tenure on the injured list — as a reason he wanted to stay with the Mets.
“I know it was going to be less money, but just the environment there, the trainers were unbelievable,” Severino said. “Everything was good, so I was trying to sacrifice more money to stay in a place where I know I can get better.”
Severino spent time on the field Friday with his former teammates.
Last season, before facing the Yankees for the first time since leaving, he revealed he responded to former teammates in the Bronx who were taunting him in a group text by saying the Yankees had just “two good hitters.”
How many good hitters on the Mets?
“They have got a couple,” Severino said laughing. “I am not going to say names, but they have a couple of good hitters over there.”
Jeff McNeil went 1-for-2 with a walk to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Low-A St. Lucie.
According to manager Carlos Mendoza, it’s likely that McNeil, who is rehabbing from an oblique strain, will be transferred to Triple-A Syracuse at some point next week.
Francisco Alvarez continued his rehab with St. Lucie, and it’s expected he will move to Syracuse on Tuesday to continue his rehab.
Alvarez is rehabbing from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone from his left hand.
