Snell agrees to 2-year, $62M deal with Giants
Blake Snell, who claimed his second Cy Young Award after two bounceback seasons, finally agreed to a deal just more than a week before Opening Day.
Snell has agreed to a two-year, $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is not yet finalized. The deal includes an optout after the first season.
Suddenly, a Giants offseason that started out in a slumber ended with a stunning flourish.
Snell joins a staff that also includes Logan Webb, runnerup to Snell in the 2023 NL Cy Young balloting. Earlier this month, the Giants added third baseman Matt Chapman on a similar short-term deal with multiple opt-outs.
The recent agreements with the two Scott Boras clients caps a winter that also included a $113 million commitment to South Korean center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, a three-year, $42 million deal for DH Jorge Soler, a four-year, $44 million deal for closer-turned-starter Jordan Hicks and a trade for former AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, who won’t be available until close to midseason.
Snell, who turned 31 Dec. 4, had a dominant season for the San Diego Padres, leading the major leagues in ERA (2.25), adjusted ERA (182) and fewest hits per nine innings (5.8) and earning the National League Cy Young Award. That capped a two-year stretch in which he posted a 2.72 ERA and 3.17 Fielding Independent Pitching over a 56-start stretch.
Snell’s five-year, $50 million contract extension he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays expired after this season, and this was his initial free agent foray. He won the 2018 AL Cy Young with Tampa Bay but struggled with consistency in the three seasons that followed, particularly after the 2020 trade that sent him from the Rays to the Padres.
Yet he hit his stride again in his final two seasons with the Padres, setting himself up for a lucrative winter. Just one that lasted a lot longer than he surely would’ve preferred.
“You go through pockets of doubt,” Snell said after winning the Cy Young in November.
“And then I remind myself, ‘You’re great,’ and believe that.”