After landing Jung Hoo Lee to supplement their offense, the San Francisco Giants are still hoping to upgrade their rotation for 2024 and beyond.
The Giants are currently in the running for Japanese hurler Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but it appears as though they're not favorites to land him. Once Yamamoto signs somewhere, though, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will see his market finally start to pick up in a meaningful way.
In his weekly notes column for USA Today, MLB insider Bob Nightengale said the Giants "appear to be the leading candidate" for the southpaw Snell after Yamamoto is officially off the board.
Snell is entering free agency in a unique position. It's not very often that we see a hurler with two Cy Youngs — and one in each league, to boot — land on the open market as a 31-year-old. In 180 innings of work for the San Diego Padres in 2023, the southpaw went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA, 1.19 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and 234 strikeouts.
San Francisco also got a very intimate look at how dominant Snell could be this past season. The Giants faced the lefty three times, and they failed to score a single run off him in 18 innings. Snell went 2-0 against the Giants while allowing 10 hits and six walks with 26 strikeouts.
Since Yamamoto still hasn't signed, Snell's market has failed to take any real shape just yet. Since free agency opened, rumors have connected him with teams including the Giants, Padres, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. And who knows? If the Los Angeles Dodgers don't land Yamamoto, they could also pivot to Snell.
At the outset of the offseason, MLB Trade Rumors predicted the southpaw would land a seven-year, $200 million contract. We'll see how that changes once Yamamoto makes a decision and it becomes clearer regarding which teams still plan to pursue a front-line starting pitcher.
