The expectation around Major League Baseball is for Blake Snell to opt out of his contract with the San Francisco Giants. Until he does so, there will be question marks about what they plan to do in the future.
If he returns, he’d give the Giants a left-handed pitcher who’s arguably the best in baseball.
However, that doesn’t seem likely at this rate, barring anything drastic happening. Perhaps it does, considering how rough his free agency was a year ago, but that’s not expected to be the case once again.
There’s also a possibility that if he wants to return to San Francisco, both sides could get a new deal done.
That could keep him in the Bay Area for the foreseeable future, which would be a promising thing for a team that frankly can’t lose their best arm. Factor in the possibility that if the Seattle native leaves in free agency, he could go to another NL team, and keeping him around becomes much more important.
Regarding other teams, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report listed the Los Angeles Dodgers as a potential fit for his services. That’d, understandably, be a nightmare for the Giants.
“Blake Snell ostensibly signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants last winter. But at least from his perspective, it was only ever meant to be a one-year arrangement. This will indeed be the case, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported in September that Snell will be exercising his opt-out clause. And who can blame him?… The risks of signing Snell aren’t any less obvious than they were last winter. He can be erratic even when he’s pitching well, and it’s not uncommon for him to not show up until the second half. He also turns 32 on December 4. Still, it’s about time the guy got his due as a legitimate ace. In contract form, that should be a multi-year deal in the $150-200 million range.”
As he mentioned, there are reasons to avoid Snell for a team like the Dodgers, or any other club. He’s had walk issues throughout his career, and while he’s been able to work out of those jams, there’s a chance it could cause him to give up more runs in the future.
That doesn’t seem to be the case due to how well he’s thrown for his entire career, but there are possibilities of things like that happening.
His free agency will depend on how teams value him, and if last year was any indication, that might not be the best thing for Snell.
However, it seems to be time for him to get paid, so expect that to be the case this winter.
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