The San Francisco Giants have consistently tried to improve their team through free agency in recent seasons. It just didn’t work out in any capacity.

The Giants rejected the most expensive free agents, Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. In a separate incident, Carlos Correa’s injuries caused the Giants to pull the plug on the contract offer he was about to accept. Then the Giants quietly started landing free agents, and it still didn’t pay off.

One of the biggest names the Giants successfully acquired was two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell. The 31-year-old lefty starter signed so late in the offseason that he wasn’t ready for Opening Day, and had anything but a normal season from that point on.

Snell struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness in the first half, but as of July he was the best pitcher in Major League Baseball. It has created a scenario where Snell re-enters the free agent market with a difficult future to predict.

The Giants would like to keep Snell, but they will face stiff competition. FOX 43’s Cale Ahearn predicted Snell would sign with the New York Yankees, who are defending their American League pennant, for five years for $150 million.

“After reportedly expressing interest in adding Snell last season, I believe the Yankees will find a way to get a deal done for 2025 and beyond,” Ahearn said.

“Snelling with New York righthander Gerrit Cole would immediately give the Yankees one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball. A year after the team reached the World Series, making these types of splash and power moves would help the team next season to keep in the fight.”

Snell threw more than 130 innings only twice in his career, but won the Cy Young Award both times. The Yankees would be as likely a team as anyone to gamble on Snell still having magic left in the tank given their desperation to win a World Series for the first time since 2009.

The Giants still have Logan Webb to anchor their rotation, so losing Snell wouldn’t leave them completely out in the cold. But it would still be a tough blow to swallow for a team eager to prove it can compete in the brutally competitive National League West.

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