Noteworthy Mets veteran addresses future amid trade speculation

New York Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino seems to understand he could be on the move if the club endures another lengthy losing stretch between now and the July 30 MLB trade deadline.

"I’m not really thinking about that right now," Severino said about his uncertain future during a chat with Manny Gomez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "There might be rumors out there but until my agent tells me, it’s nothing serious. A lot of the players (the Mets) signed were for one year. We knew that if we didn’t play well, it could happen."

Severino inked a one-year "prove it" contract with the Mets this past fall and became the club's temporary ace after Kodai Senga went down with a moderate capsule strain that will keep him out of the rotation through at least the All-Star break. Across his first 13 starts with the Mets, Severino went 4-2 with a 3.12 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP and 60 strikeouts over 78 innings of work.

As recently as last week, Severino was routinely mentioned in trade rumors as New York hovered near the basement of the National League standings. However, the 33-37 Mets began Monday just one-and-a-half games back in the battle for the NL's third wild-card berth thanks to a five-game winning streak. 

In total, the Mets have notched victories in 11 of their past 15 games. 

"Given the situation and their stated desires of wanting to win, the Mets' best course of action is to wait things out," The Athletic's Will Sammon wrote Monday. "The trade deadline remains more than five weeks away — which, in Mets years, permits for, at least, oh, a couple more ups and downs, probably."

Such a mindset leaves New York players on short-term contracts with more questions than answers regarding their futures.

"Right now, I’m just focused on doing my job," Severino told Gomez. "We’ve won (five) straight games, we’re good. If we keep this up and stay in the wild card race, we’re good."

The Mets' next chance to inch closer to .500 will come when they open a three-game series at the Texas Rangers (33-38) on Monday evening.