Yankees not believed to be chasing pricey lefty Snell

TAMPA — The Yankees cannot be ruled out as a suitor for Blake Snell until he lands elsewhere.

But those holding their breath for the Yankees to sign the reigning NL Cy Young winner may need to have oxygen on standby.

With the first full-squad workout set for Tuesday, the Yankees are not believed to have an offer on the table for Snell. They had made a contract offer earlier in the offseason, but that was before they pivoted to sign Marcus Stroman to fill out their rotation.

It remains possible that if Snell’s price falls, the Yankees could swoop back in to sign the left-hander and bolster their rotation. But at the moment, it would be a pricey proposition based on where the club stands with the projected luxury-tax payroll as currently constructed (around $306.7 million, per Cot’s Contracts).

Because the Yankees are above the highest luxurytax threshold and have paid the luxury tax three straight years, every penny over $297 million costs them 110 percent. So if Snell were to sign a contract with an average annual value of $30 million, the Yankees would have to pay $33 million on top of that — so $63 million total for Snell in 2024.

Additionally, because Snell declined the Padres’ qualifying offer, the Yankees have to give up a secondand fifth-round draft pick this July, plus $1 million in international pool money.

For now, the Yankees appear set to go through spring training with a rotation of reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Stroman, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt. It is a rotation with high potential, but one that has its fair share of question marks behind Cole. Rodon and Cortes (and, to a lesser extent, Stroman) are coming off injury-plagued seasons and Schmidt coming off the heaviest workload of his career, though they are all said to be healthy in the first week of camp.

There is pressure for the Yankees to go all-in this year after trading for Juan Soto, knowing they are only guaranteed one season with him before he hits free agency. And they may be one of just a handful of teams who could afford to sign Snell, though GM Brian Cashman recently declined to comment on whether he had more financial room to add to the roster.

“I don’t have ‘blocked’ on my call sheet for any agents,” Cashman said Thursday. “If they want to call, they certainly have the avenue to do so. I’m always open-minded to listen to what’s available as well as continue our dialogues with opposing general managers. But we do like what we have here. But it’s a long season. We’re certainly not going to assume that what we have now is going to be enough. That’s why the job is always to be open.”