New favorite emerges to sign Blake Snell

Just a few days ago, it looked like the Houston Astros were becoming the favorites to sign Blake Snell. But now it seems another team may be in line to add the reigning Cy Young Award winner.

In a column published on Sunday, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that Snell’s asking price of $60 million over two years is too much for Houston. The Astros’ misgivings over Snell’s high price led Nightengale to say that the San Francisco Giants are looming as the favorites to sign the southpaw.

Snell went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA over 180 innings for the Padres last season. That was the second time he had won the Cy Young Award, as he also captured it while with the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL in 2018. Snell can be dominant, but the big knock against him is his lack of durability/workload. He’s only pitched more than 130 innings in a season twice in his career — both during his Cy Young-winning seasons.

The Giants have been looking to improve all offseason. They have added Matt Chapman, JD Davis, Jorge Soler, Jung-hoo Lee and Robbie Ray ahead of the 2024 campaign. Adding Snell would make plenty of sense for them.

The Giants were among the teams that watched Snell pitch on Friday: