WFAN host bets on Mets pitcher to win the National League Cy Young

The games don’t count, but that didn’t stop WFAN’s Evan Roberts from literally buying into how good Luis Severino has been in spring training. The New York Mets free agent pickup is long removed from his Cy Young contending days, mostly because of the injuries which plagued him in his final years with the New York Yankees.

Nine innings this spring with the lone blemish being a solo home run, has been one of several dominant Mets pitchers to take the mound. He, no doubt, has the highest ceiling and is the most proven we can expect on the major league roster.

How confident is Roberts in Severino? He placed a bet on Severino to win the National League Cy Young.

Betting on Luis Severino is also a bet on the Mets

You can think Severino will be good and also believe the Mets won’t. To place this particular bet, unless there is some fine print, does mean Roberts also trusts his favorite baseball team will be good enough to avoid selling at the trade deadline.

Severino is a lock to get traded this summer if the Mets aren’t very good and he’s performing well enough. Well enough might simply mean being any better than Carlos Carrasco was last season when the Mets couldn’t move him.

Knowing it or not, Roberts has also placed a bet on the Mets to be within striking distance of a playoff spot by the end of July. The trouble with a bet like this is that a trade candidate has a good chance of switching leagues mid-year and becoming a non-factor in the Cy Young race. CC Sabathia in 2008 comes to mind as one extreme example of a guy switching leagues and not having enough innings in one to secure the award.

There is already a more than 50% chance Severino would end up traded to an American League club. More so if you don’t believe he’d get dealt within the National League East. Considering the bet, Severino will have to have been good enough by the time the trade deadline comes around for him to already be a Cy Young contender therefore the price is way up and that’s just not the type of player we typically see traded within a division. Are the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies really going to empower the Mets farm system more?

Severino’s last instance of receiving Cy Young acknowledgement came in 2018 when he finished ninth. The year prior, he was third. 

The bet by Roberts is based far more on heart than head. Sometimes, it’s worth the $50 risk. Who could’ve foreseen R.A. Dickey’s Cy Young season coming? He might’ve put someone’s twins college from that winning wager.