Mets' Luis Severino disappointed he won't face the Yankees in next week's Subway Series
The Mets would rather have the righthanded Luis Severino face the Cubs and throw a pair of lefties (David Peterson plus Sean Manaea) against is former team, the Yankees. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
CHICAGO — The Mets had their reasons — totally legitimate, perfectly reasonable baseball reasons — and Luis Severino understood them. But he still was a little disappointed.
Instead of facing the Yankees, his former team, at Citi Field on Tuesday, Severino will move up to pitch against the Cubs on Sunday night.
David Peterson, who had been penciled in for Sunday, will go Tuesday instead.
The Mets’ thinking behind the swap was matchups-based, according to manager Carlos Mendoza. They’d rather have the righthanded Severino face Chicago and throw a pair of lefties (Peterson and Sean Manaea) against the Yankees.
The Yankees have fared much worse against southpaws this year. They have a .257/.335/.450 slash line (.785 OPS) against righties and a .237/.324/.381 slash line (.705 OPS) against lefties.
“That was all [there was] to it,” Mendoza said. “They were both on board. [Severino] smiled, obviously. He said, ‘I’ll do whatever it takes. If you guys feel like Sunday it is, then it’s Sunday.’ So we made that decision.”
Severino, who spent more than a decade in the Yankees’ organization before becoming a free agent and signing with the Mets last offseason, already is eyeing part two of the Subway Series, July 23-24 at Yankee Stadium.
That will be in the first week after the All-Star break and all the rotation flexibility that entails.
“I’m going to make that happen,” Severino said with a big smile.
Nido ‘not surprised’
Fun fact about new Cubs catcher Tomas Nido: He made his major-league debut on Sept. 13, 2017, for the Mets . . . against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
His first game for anybody other than the Mets came on Friday . . . against the Mets and for the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He pinch hit and struck out to end the Mets’ 11-1 win.
Adjusting to his new life after signing with Chicago on Wednesday, Nido said he was “not surprised” about the Mets’ decision to cut him last week and was grateful for the 12 years he spent with them. So he has “absolutely no hard feelings” after the Mets elected to keep Luis Torrens as the backup catcher.
“We sign a guy, trade for a guy who gives value,” Nido said. “Torrens is a great guy. And he did probably the best anybody could do for those first couple of days. Credit to him for having an unbelievable couple of weeks. It all worked out.
“I have nothing bad to say about them. [President of baseball operations David] Stearns has been unbelievable . . . I thank them for giving me the opportunity to get back up and have a platform to perform again and have a different end to how things went last year. That’s all I can ask for.”
Extra bases
The Mets put Torrens on the paternity list and called up catcher Joe Hudson from Triple-A Syracuse . . . Stolen-base threat Duke Ellis was claimed from the White Sox and assigned to Double-A Binghamton. The 26-year-old outfielder had as many steals as plate appearances (four) in his cameo with Chicago this month. He has stolen 34 bases in 41 minor-league games . . . Reliever Grant Hartwig had surgery to address a torn meniscus in his left knee, the Mets announced. They estimated he’ll be out six to eight weeks.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.