According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, starting pitcher Blake Snell and the San Francisco Giants reached a deal on Monday for a two-year contract. With an opt-out after the first year, the $750 million arrangement is subject to change.
The 31-year-old left-hander is coming off a season in which he led the San Diego Padres rotation to the end of a disappointing campaign and was awarded the National League Cy Young award.
In 32 starts in 2023, Snell went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA and a career-high 234 strikeouts in 180 innings pitched. In the Cy Young voting, he was voted in first place 28 times out of 30 times.
Snell was the finest left-handed starting pitcher available on the free agent market, having never been one before in his career. Snell held out when spring training camps opened around baseball, while others signed swiftly.
Agent Scott Boras represents both him and another holdout player, right-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery.
In addition to right-hander Griffin Canning and left-handers Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers, and Tyler Anderson, the Angels could have utilized an ace-level pitcher.
The race for the fifth starter now appears to be a camp-long contest between Jose Suarez, Chase Silseth, and Davis Daniel, among maybe other players. None of them have the same level of familiarity as Snell.
The Angels anticipate paying out $188 million in salary at the end of the season, which is far less than the $237 million luxury tax threshold that owner Arte Moreno has typically avoided. The loss of Shohei Ohtani to free agency left them clearly in need of a front-end starter.
Snell, who is 71-55 with a 3.20 in eight major league seasons with the Padres and Tampa Bay Rays, will still be passed over. With the Rays in 2018, he was named to the All-Star squad and took home the AL Cy Young Award.
