Pros and cons of Yankees exercising Luis Severino's club option

Luis Severino, 28, was gearing up to hit free agency for the first time in his seven-year career until the Yankees decided to exercise their 2023 option over him, effectively keeping him in the Bronx for one more year.

This move was made already anticipated after Yankees GM Brian Cashman publicly said so on Friday.

Severino will now earn $15M in 2023. The question, of course, is was it the smartest move for the Yankees to make.

Let's break down the pros and cons of the $15M decision made today by the Yankees.

Pros:

When Severino is on his game, he is one of the strongest starting pitchers in the league. The two-time All-Star has shown flashes of superstardom in the past, finishing in the top 10 in the AL Cy Young Award voting in both 2017 and 2018. In 2022, he made 19 starts for the Yanks, going 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 102 innings.

Another positive note on this decision by the Yankees is the fact that they very well might have brought Severino aboard for a steal. There are very few starters in the game that can outduel this one when health is on his side for a full season. He will slot into one of the strongest rotations in the game alongside Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Frankie Montas, and Domingo German.

Cons:

It's hard to talk about Severino without bringing up his consistent health concerns. The right-handed starter has made over 30 starts just twice in his entire career. While both of those two seasons ended up being the best he's had, there's something to be said about two healthy seasons across seven total years.

Since 2018, Severino has made just 26 appearances with 19 of them coming in 2022. He managed to make it out to the mound just three times in 2019, zero in 2020, and then four in 2021.

There have been multiple instances where Severino appears to be made of glass. While the Yankees lucked out by bringing him back on just a one-year contract, there's always the likelihood that it blows up in their face when dealing with the durability of someone like Severino.