Where the Giants go from here after Snell’s announced contract with the Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — At times during the first half of last season, it was clear Blake Snell wasn’t ready to be on a mound. At times in the second half he was about as good as any Giants pitcher.
Throughout, he was absolutely fascinating.
The left-hander always seemed to be chasing, and not just in the first half. He would dominate an opponent and flirt with a no-hitter early in the inning, then stand in front of reporters and say the curveball was no good, or that he didn’t like his changeup, or that he knew specific ways of being. better even if he did not disclose them. When in fact he I threw a hitSnell was refreshingly candid, making it clear that he went the distance in part to prove to 30 MLB teams that he was capable and that shouldn’t be held against him upon his return to free agency.
At the end of the year, after declining to make what would have been his final start as a Giant, Snell stood at his locker and spoke at length about his season and his future.
He said he has no regrets for 2024, although it looks like he should have several, since his late arrival and slow start have dug a hole for the Giants. He said all the right things about San Francisco, which is what you’d expect from someone who had just experienced free agency and knew he was about to do it again. He also said his 2025 team would get a different version of Snell than the one who opted not to pitch last weekend in order to protect against potential injury.
“All I want to do is throw,” he said. “It sucks too, just because I have to be smart, and that’s exactly where I’m at right now, but once I sign this deal, I’m just throwing, throwing, throwing. J “I love doing this. That’s all that really matters to me.”
Snell said that day that the big problem would be there, and he was right. He said he would sign early this time, and he was right.
But his victory is a huge “L” for the Giants.
Snell Tuesday accepted a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a decision he announced on his Instagram page. The deal will pay him $182 million over five years and further strengthen the defending World Series champions, who are — to borrow a phrase — light years behind their longtime rival.
The Giants might be disappointed with the ultimate landing spot, but not too surprised. The Dodgers were interested in Snell last March, but the Giants took the lead by offering an individual deal that would allow him to withdraw and return to free agency.
That deal ended up giving the Giants just 20 starts, with Snell hitting the IL twice. When he returned for the second time, on July 9, Snell had a 9.51 ERA and had yet to complete five innings in a start. The rest of the time he posted a 1.23 ERA.
Over those last 14 starts, Snell has thrown more than seven innings four times and has thrown 114 pitches twice. It was no secret that he was trying to prove he could be durable, and that may be part of why the Giants never seemed very enthusiastic about reuniting.
Like Snell, they said all the polite things, but team officials made it clear late in the year that they expected Snell to find a better deal elsewhere. For several years, the Giants have avoided long-term deals for older starters. Sometimes they were right (Carlos Rodón) and sometimes they immediately had regrets (Kevin Gausman).
For all his brilliance, Snell was on his own agenda, and he’s not the kind of pitcher who will convince an organization to change course after years of moving away from safer bets. You can’t fault Snell at all for protecting his arm the entire game, but it was certainly an interesting contrast to Matt Chapman, who dealt directly with Buster Posey and was annoyed at not being able to go nine innings the night he signed his own massive long-term deal.
There’s no way the Giants can sugarcoat the fact that this deal is coming from Los Angeles. The rich get richer, with Snell joining a rotation that will include Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, two players the Giants were pursuing at this time a year ago.
The Giants find themselves with a hole at the top of their rotation, one that won’t be easy to fill. When Farhan Zaidi traded for Robbie Ray, he said the southpaw would be the ideal co-ace for Logan Webb, and the Giants have to hope Ray is ready to return to his Cy Young-caliber form. They’re hoping Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong can make the jump, and that’s not at all unrealistic.
With Snell off the market, Corbin Burnes is the best pitcher available, and the Giants have some interest. But Snell just priced the market at $36 million per year and Burnes is two years younger, so he can sit back and wait for the bidding war to push his price past $200 million.
The Giants will add a veteran starting pitcher this offseason, but they might be forced to hang around in that second tier, which isn’t necessarily a problem if they can fill holes elsewhere, notably at shortstop. The Kansas City Royals made modest additions last year with Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha last offseason and found themselves in the MLB playoffs, and many veterans fit that mold this time around.
However, there is no one as dominant as Snell. When he’s right, even getting a hit seems like a challenge, and it’s a challenge the Giants will face over the next five years.
