The San Francisco Giants will face the reality of potentially losing both of their left-handed starters in the offseason.
Blake Snell, who signed with the club late in the offseason of 2024, has a player option. The expectation around Major League Baseball is for the two-time Cy Young Award winner to get a hefty contract from a team.
There’s a possibility that the Giants could be the team that gives him that offer, but if not, he should be in a better position to land a long-term deal than last winter.
Robbie Ray, who’s dealt with multiple injuries over the past few years, also has the ability to opt out of his deal. However, given that he has two years remaining for $50 million, it wouldn’t make much sense from his perspective to opt out.
Michael Ginnitti of Spotrac predicted Ray would opt in his deal, keeping him in San Francisco.
“The 33-year-old has the ability to opt-out of a remaining 2 years, $50M. He spent all but 7 starts worth of time on the injured list in 2024, and hasn’t been a full-time pitcher since 2022.”
However, his prediction for Snell was the opposite. He wrote that he expects the Giants ace to decline his player option and hit the open market.
“Snell skipped his final SF start, leaving most to believe that he’s already made his decision about declining the 1 year, $30M remaining on his current contract and re-entering the open market this winter. The near 32-year-old is a $26M per year player in our system.”
Snell has $30 million and one year remaining on his contract, but for a guy who’s only getting older at 32 years old, it’s safe to say he’ll test free agency and see what’s out there.
His free agency situation is much more appealing than Ray’s, as they aren’t in the same tier on the mound.
Snell skipping his final start of the season for San Francisco was a good indication of what’s to come for the front office. Given the year was already over, there wasn’t much of a reason for him to risk an injury in a game that didn’t mean anything.
If the Giants lose both players this winter, it could become a significant issue.
Losing Snell would be the biggest problem, but when Ray is healthy, they could at least expect him to eat up innings as an above-average arm.
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