A sum of $13 million isn’t a whole lot of money for the New York Mets and owner Steve Cohen.

The Mets’ $346-million payroll last season was the largest in major league history. They also had to pay an additional $102 million in competitive balance tax.

All that money got the Mets was just a 75-87 record and a fourth-place finish in the National League East. It also caused former general manager Billy Eppler into a roster teardown at the Aug. 1 trading deadline and the Mets dealt future Hall of Fame pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to acquire prospects.

The new president of baseball operations, David Stearns, is spending a significant part of this offseason trying to rebuild the starting rotation. One pitcher the Mets are hoping can fill the void is former New York Yankees Severino.

The Mets signed the right-hander to a one-year, $13-million contract as a free agent. While that sum might not be much for the Mets, it’s a number few teams would likely match in the wake of Severino’s long injury history.

Severino signed a four-year, $40-million contract extension with the New York Yankees during spring training in 2019 and it turned into a five-year, $55-million deal when the Yankees exercised their option for the 2023 season. Yet Severino was healthy enough to make just 40 starts and five relief appearances during the life of the contract while pitching 209.1 innings.

Severino underwent Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery in 2020 and missed the entire 2021 season. He also had injured list stints because of right shoulder inflammation, COVID, a strained right lat muscle and a strained left oblique over the last five years.

Last season was an ugly one. He went 4-8 with a 6.65 ERA in 19 games (18 starts).

However, the Mets believe it’s worth taking a shot on Severino. He has a big booster in new manager Carlos Mendona, who spent 15 seasons in the Yankees organization, including the last seven on the major-league coaching staff, before being hired last month to replace Buck Showalter.

I go way back with Seve,” Mendoza said. “I remember when he was signed with the Yankees back in 2011 and I watched him grow throughout the minor-league system and develop and become a big-league pitcher. I remember watching his first outing in the big leagues. I was in the Dominican Republic complex at the time, and it was a party when he was pitching, right? Then he became an All-Star twice.

“Then he’s been through a lot the past couple of years with injuries, as everybody knows. But talent, we saw it towards the end of the year, fastball, live. Obviously, the goal is to keep him healthy. This is something that we need to work on with him and his people and our people here. Excited to have him on board.”

Severino was indeed an All-Star in both 2017 and 2018. He had a 33-14 record during those two seasons – including winning 19 games in 2018 – with a 3.18 ERA in 63 starts.

Yet it has been more than five years since Severino was that caliber of a pitcher. However, he is still just 29 years old and that makes the Mets feel it is worth trying to salvage Severino’s career.

“I was able to talk to him and kind of get a feel for where he was at, physically, mentally,” Mendoza said. “He seems like he’s in a good spot right now. Working with his trainers back home.

“And we finally were able to put our hands, our people from our medical department were able to just go through his medicals and all that. It’s encouraging. It’s something that he knows. He’s maybe more athletic, some of those things physically that he feels like he needs to work on. As we move forward here, we’ll have those conversations with him as well and our pitching coach and our training department.”

While the Mets realize it’s a gamble, they are also hopeful it could result in a major payoff if Severino can regain his form of old.

“He went through a lot, but the one thing that he’s got is he wants to take the ball,” Mendoza said. “Whenever he can, he wants to take the ball. He’s a competitor. We have seen it in the past, on the biggest stage, right, in New York. Biggest moment, he wants to be there, he wants to compete and that’s what we are all excited about.”