Where Giants go from here after Snell’s reported Dodgers contract originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – In the first half of last season, it was clear at times that Blake Snell wasn’t ready to be on a mound. At times in the second half, he was about as good as any Giants pitcher has ever been.

Throughout the period he was absolutely fascinating.

The left-hander seemed to be on the hunt more and more, and not just in the first half. He would dominate an opponent and flirt with a no-hitter in the early innings and then stand in front of reporters and say the curveball was wrong, or that he didn’t like his changeup, or that he knew specific ways he could do that doing. better even if he didn’t reveal them. When he actually threw a no-hitter, Snell was refreshingly candid, making it clear that he went the distance in part to prove to 30 MLB teams that he could do it, and that he shouldn’t be blamed for it when he returned to the club. free agency.

At the end of the year, after declining what would have been his final start as a Reus, Snell stood in front of his locker and spoke at length about his season and his future.

He said he had no regrets about 2024, even though it seemed like he should have quite a few as his late arrival and slow start dug a hole for the Giants. He said all the right things about San Francisco that you would expect from someone who just had experience in free agency and knew he would do it again. He also said his 2025 team would get a different version of Snell than the one who opted not to pitch last weekend to protect against a potential injury.

“All I want to do is pitch,” he said. “It sucks too, just because I have to be smart, and that’s exactly where I am right now, but once I sign that deal, it’s just pitch, pitch, pitch. I like to do that. That’s the only thing where I really care about.” .”

Snell said that day that the big problem would be there, and he was right. He said he would sign early this time, and he was right.

But his win is a huge “L” for the Giants.

Snell agreed to a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, a decision he announced on his Instagram page. The deal will reportedly pay him $182 million over five years and will further strengthen the reigning World Series champions, who are, so to speak, light years ahead of their old rival.

The Giants may be disappointed with the ultimate landing spot, but not too surprised. The Dodgers had interest in Snell last March, but the Giants got a head start by offering a one-for-one deal that allowed him to opt out and return to free agency.

That deal ultimately gave the Giants just 20 starts, with Snell hitting the IL twice. When he returned a second time, on July 9, Snell had a 9.51 ERA and had yet to complete five innings in a start. He posted a 1.23 ERA the rest of the way.

During those last 14 starts, Snell threw more than seven innings four times and 114 pitches twice. It was no secret that he was trying to prove he could be durable, and perhaps that’s part of the reason why the Giants never seemed all that excited about a reunion.

Like Snell, they said all the polite things, but team officials made it clear late in the year that they expected Snell to find a better deal elsewhere. The Giants have shied away from long-term deals for older starters for years. Sometimes they were right (Carlos Rodón) and sometimes they were immediately sorry (Kevin Gausman).

For all his brilliance, Snell followed his own program, and that’s not the type of pitcher who’s going to convince an organization to change course after years of moving away from safer bets. You can’t blame Snell at all for protecting his arm down the stretch, but it was certainly an interesting contrast from Matt Chapman, who negotiated directly with Buster Posey and was annoyed that he couldn’t go nine innings the night he signed his put. own huge long-term deal.

There is no way the Giants can disguise the fact that this deal came from Los Angeles. The rich are getting richer, with Snell joining a rotation that includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, two players the Giants pursued around this time a year ago.

The Giants are left with a hole at the top of their rotation, one that won’t be easily filled. When Farhan Zaidi traded for Robbie Ray, he said the southpaw would be the ideal co-ace for Logan Webb moving on, and the Giants have to hope Ray is ready to return to his Cy Young caliber. They’re hoping Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong can make the jump, and that’s not unrealistic at all.

With Snell off the market, Corbin Burnes is the best pitcher available, and the Giants do have some interest. But Snell just set the market at $36 million per year and Burnes is two years younger, so he can sit back and wait for the bidding war to push his price above $200 million.

The Giants will add an experienced starting pitcher this season, but they may be forced to hang around at that second level, which won’t necessarily be a problem if they can fill holes elsewhere, especially at shortstop. The Kansas City Royals made modest additions with Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha last offseason that ended up in the MLB playoffs, and there are quite a few veterans who fit that bill this time around.

However, no one is as dominant as Snell. If he’s right, even taking a hit from him feels like a challenge, and it’s a challenge the Giants will have to face over the next five years.

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