Morale high in team’s clubhouse with signing of a Cy Young Award winner.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — San Francisco Giants starter Alex Cobb played with Blake Snell when Snell was a rookie with the Rays, so Cobb kept trying to pry details from Snell about his plans in free agency.
“I’m proud of him — I tried and tried but he was tight-lipped and I wasn’t trying to get any information out of him ever,” Cobb said Tuesday. “I wanted him to know that I’ve been where he’s at one last time; I signed really late my free-agent year, and to tell him how much he would love San Francisco if he did come here.
“He just shot me, ‘I can’t talk about it.’ And I was like, ‘Good for you. You know you’ve matured a lot since your rookie year.’”
San Francisco was to introduce Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, as its latest free-agent addition on Wednesday, adding to a haul that includes outfielder Jung-Hoo Lee, pitcher Jordan Hicks, catcher Tom Murphy and — just since spring training started — slugger Jorge Soler and Platinum Glove third baseman Matt Chapman.
Logan Webb, announced as the Opening Day starter on Tuesday for the third time in his career, was the runner-up to Snell in the Cy Young race last year.
“He was the best pitcher in baseball last year so was fully deserving,” Webb said, adding jokingly that he hopes Snell doesn’t give him too much grief about the Cy Young results.
Webb now will be pitching right ahead of Snell, presumably, in a beefed up rotation that includes Kyle Harrison, Hicks and Keaton Winn, with Cobb expected to return from hip surgery by May 1. Cobb is expected to pitch three innings on Friday and another Cy Young winner, Robbie Ray, is scheduled to be back from Tommy John/ flexor tendon surgery at midseason.
“When you have the 1-2 Cy Young finishers from last year, it’s pretty potent,” outfielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “Obviously we’ve got some young guys who are really impressive and that buys us a little bit of time to make sure that Cobby is completely healthy, to make sure that Robbie is completely healthy. And that’s really good for them because they deserve the opportunity to be their best selves. And then once they’re back, it’s a top-notch rotation.”
Yastrzemski is just happy not to face Snell — usually he sits against the lefty, but in their few matchups he’s 0-for-8 with four strikeouts. And in the minor leagues, it was much the same.
“It made for some long days,” Yastrzemski said, adding that Snell “has a really good pitch arsenal for his arm slot; it’s really hard to pick the ball up out of his hand. And obviously, he’s got elite stuff in terms of velo and shape. So he makes it really difficult to make your decisions on your swings.”
The Giants, by adding Chapman and Snell this month, are signaling that they see pitching and defense as the key to contending in the NL West, something that was the hallmark of the 2010, ’12 and ’14 champions.
“That’s how the Giants won before, right?” Webb said. “And I think our lineup is pretty dang good, too.”
“I’m just excited to get back to a potential rotation that has shut-down stuff every single night,” Cobb said. “We’re all going to be able to feed off each other, starting with Webby on Opening (Day) to start building that momentum. … Hopefully at the end of the season, you’re looking back and seeing what five guys put together — that was the ingredient to this franchise for a long time, having so many guys go so deep into games. It would be really cool to be a part of a rotation that mimics what these guys have done in the past.”
Manager Bob Melvin was careful with his remarks about Snell on Tuesday before the Giants’ night game since the deal was not yet official, but when asked about managing Snell in San Diego last year, he said, “Man, after like a month or something, it was one run tops you were going to get off him,” before adding good naturedly, “We’ll see where he signs.”
Once the deal was officially announced Tuesday evening, Snell showed up in the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium.
“You could feel the buzz in the clubhouse right away,” Melvin said.
Briefly: Winn (elbow) will join Cobb in throwing three innings against the Cubs on Friday. … The Giants optioned infielder Otto Lopez to minorleague camp and reassigned outfielder Chase Pinder, who hit .417 with a homer, three walks and just one strikeout. Lopez and Pinder both drove in nine runs, second most on the team, despite limited at-bats, and both played extremely well in the field. “Both of them — fantastic,” Melvin said. “Really impressed by both those guys.”… Luis Matos hit his team-high fourth homer of the spring Tuesday, a tworun shot in the fourth, and Thairo Estrada hit his second, a grand slam in the fifth, in the Giants’ 9-8 victory over the Royals. Left-handed-hitting LaMonte Wade Jr. drove in the winning run with two outs in the ninth off lefty Walter Pennington. “He wants some at-bats and we’re giving him some atbats against lefties,” Melvin said. “That was a really good at-bat right there.”