MLB Rumors: Blake Snell, Giants Agree to 2-Year, $62M Contract amid Astros Buzz

Megan Briggs/Getty Images

The San Francisco Giants snagged the best starting pitcher still on the market, agreeing to terms with Blake Snell on a two-year, $62 million contract, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Snell seemingly confirmed the news Monday on his Instagram:

SF Giants on NBCS @NBCSGiantsBlake Snell is a Giant 🤩

(via @snellzilla4/IG) pic.twitter.com/HdhHqCpBmD

Snell staying unsigned this long was a big surprise given he’s coming off an NL Cy Young. It looked like he and agent Scott Boras may have overplayed their hand and might need to follow the approach of two other Boras clients.

Outfielder Cody Bellinger and third baseman Matt Chapman both signed what in effect can be one-year deals when they failed to get suitably commensurate offers extending well into the future.

This deal with the Giants will have been much less than Snell and Boras envisioned getting before free agency started. Reigning Cy Young Award winners typically aren’t in the position where they have to meet a suitor more than halfway in the rare opportunities when they hit the open market.

The San Diego Padres were one of the more disappointing teams in MLB during the 2023 season—a tight race between them and the New York Mets—though that wasn’t due to the ace of their pitching staff.

While Snell’s contributions changed little in terms of the team’s results, keeping him on the roster past the trade deadline meant San Diego was eligible to receive a draft pick if he signed with another club after he declined the $20.3 million qualifying offer.

The Padres’ massive underperformance was bound to force the franchise to rethink its long-term vision. Trading Juan Soto to the New York Yankees was part of that process, and a number of key players have left as free agents.

As it relates to Snell, though, his future in Southern California might have been a little murky even if the 2023 campaign had gone according to plan.

San Diego has worked proactively to tie down many of its top players before they hit the open market. Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Jake Cronenworth have all signed multiyear extensions.

That the Padres didn’t adopt the same tactic with Snell elicited a few possible conclusions.

Perhaps the southpaw simply wanted to bet on himself. If that’s the case, then he delivered on the field. In 32 starts, he had an MLB-best 2.25 ERA and a 3.44 FIP while striking out 11.7 batters per nine innings. He was crowned the National League Cy Young, collecting all but two of the 30 first-place votes.

Rather than speaking to Snell’s preferences, the absence of a contract might have instead reflected a level of hesitancy by the Padres front office.

There has to be a limit to the extravagant spending at some point. Lin, Rosenthal and Evan Drellich reported Nov. 1 for The Athletic that San Diego took out a loan of around $50 million to help shore up its short-term finances, including meeting the player payroll.

Signing Snell isn’t without some risk, either.

The 31-year-old won 21 games and led the American League in ERA (1.89) and ERA+ (217) en route to winning his first Cy Young in 2018, and that was an outlier until 2023 both in terms of his performance and usage. His 180.2 innings pitched that year soared past what had been his previous high (129.1).

Snell has electric stuff, which makes it all the more frustrating when his command isn’t there and he’s driving up his pitch count. He has fourth-highest walk rate (4.09) among pitchers who have logged at least 500 innings since he made his MLB debut in 2016, per FanGraphs.

This season was a microcosm of Snell’s career.

Through his first nine starts, he had a 5.40 ERA with 27 free passes over 45 innings. Opposing hitters were slugging .471 against him and had a .347 on-base percentage, per Baseball Reference. He wasn’t consistently finding the plate, and when he did, he wasn’t exactly fooling the guy in the batter’s box.

From May 25 on, Snell proceeded to be lights out and pitched better than he ever had. His opponent slugging percentage was a minuscule .217, and he had 186 strikeouts to 72 walks. His production contrasted sharply with San Diego’s wider struggles.

Given his age, Snell should have plenty of good years ahead, and maybe he unlocked something in his skill set to not only pitch well but also do it more efficiently than he has in the past.

However, it won’t come as a complete shock if he reverts to form and ultimately has the Giants questioning their investment.

Snell clearly addresses what was an issue with their starting rotation. The unit was collectively strong, but only Logan Webb, Alex Cobb and Sean Manaea threw 100-plus innings.

Now, the Giants have another ace to pair with Webb, who was the Cy Young runner-up. Beyond shopping at the top end of the market, San Francisco got somebody who will be familiar with plenty of the opposing hitters within the division.