Addition of two-time Cy Young winner adds to impressive Giants offseason

Blake Snell.

Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell finally found a home for 2024 after the Giants signed him to a two-year, $62M contract with an opt-out after the season.

Snell, who won last year’s NL Cy Young after leading the league with a 2.25 earned run average, surprisingly remained unsigned throughout the MLB’s free agency period and deep into spring training. The Dodgers and Padres kick off the 2024 season on Wednesday, and the rest of the league joins them on Thursday, Mar. 28.

He reportedly turned down a six-year, $150M offer from the Yankees earlier in the offseason. While Snell’s deal with the Giants doesn’t come close to that amount, by being able to enter free agency next year, he could still get a massive contract down the road.

For now, he joins a Giants organization that quietly had a strong offseason. While their division-rival Dodgers received most of the buzz for signing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, among others, the Giants were just as active.

After missing the playoffs for the second year in a row and the sixth time in the last seven years in 2023, San Francisco made several substantial moves to turn around its fortune.

It also added 2021 Cy Young winner Robbie Ray, who only made one start last season after undergoing season-ending surgery following an injury to his left flexor.

The Giants signed four-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Matt Chapman, right fielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler, who made his first All-Star game in 2023, and reliever Jordan Hicks. He had 81 strikeouts in 65.2 innings pitched last season.

In December, San Francisco agreed to a six-year, $113M contract with highly-regarded KBO outfielder Jung Hoo Lee.

In seven seasons with the Korean Baseball Organization, Lee had a .340 batting average and walked 383 times compared to only 304 strikeouts.

Snell’s signing gives the Giants another massive talent to compete with the Dodgers, who enter the regular season as the favorite (+350) to win this year’s World Series.

It took Snell longer to sign than it should take for a Cy Young winner, but as far as San Francisco is concerned, he’s arriving right on time.

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