SAN FRANCISCO -- It wasn't a surprise when Blake Snell was scratched from Saturday's start, which loomed as potentially his final one as a Giant. It's become somewhat normal for pending free agents to take it easy at the end of the year, especially those who have large options that could be impacted by a fluke injury.
But as he stood in front of a pile of boxes headed to Seattle, Snell said there was one way he would have pitched Saturday, even at the end of a disappointing season. Had the team in the other dugout been in contention, he would have taken the ball.
"If I have a chance to ruin someone's playoff hopes, I would love to do that," he said, smiling.
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Snell tried to do that on the last road trip, facing -- and beating -- the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals. He didn't allow a run over 12 innings, striking out 21, but the St. Louis Cardinals are as eliminated as the Giants, so Snell shut it down when San Francisco got home. The bigger questions have to do with his future, anyway.
While it would have been nice for Snell to make one more appearance at Oracle Park, he has millions of reasons to be careful.
Snell will opt out of the second season of his two-year contract and return to free agency. A year ago, he was coming off a Cy Young Award season, but he found the market to be unexpectedly cool. The Giants were able to add him in late March on a two-year, $62 million deal, but Snell expects suitors to be more aggressive this time around. He certainly will get his nine figures, and given his talent -- and the second half he just had -- it wouldn't be a shock to see bidding approach or exceed $200 million.
As Snell's agent, Scott Boras, knows all too well, all it takes is one owner. Perhaps it'll be the New York Mets, who have the richest one in the sport and a need for high-end pitching. Perhaps it'll be the Los Angeles Dodgers, who pursued Snell last offseason and are heading back to the postseason with a patched-together rotation. Or perhaps it'll be the Giants, who saw in recent months just how impactful Snell can be, especially in their ballpark.
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The Giants internally have not expressed a tremendous amount of confidence in a reunion, but Snell did his part Saturday. He reiterated that he would be open to coming back and said he's looking forward to talking to president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.
"I love it here. I think we can be really, really good," he said. "I see a lot of promise and I enjoy being here. We'll see what happens. It sucks, I don't like the whole having to decide and all that. I just want to be somewhere that wants me and loves me and will invest in me to be the best player I can be to help them win. I liked it here. I hope it's here. We'll see."
The Giants hoped Snell would be the one to put them over the top this season, but he had an unimaginably rough first half after signing so late in the spring. Snell felt he was in pitching shape when he arrived, but soon found he wasn't ready. San Francisco wanted him to take the ball on their first road trip, putting Snell on the active roster to start the season, but he didn't pitch until their 11th game, and didn't pitch well initially.
Snell had a 9.51 ERA through his first six starts and twice strained his adductor. The second injury allowed him to reset and have a mini-spring training, and he has been the best pitcher in baseball since returning.
Over his final 14 starts, Snell posted a 1.23 ERA, 1.77 FIP and struck out 114 batters in 80 1/3 innings.
"I've been around some pretty good pitching before -- Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling -- I don't remember this kind of a run," manager Bob Melvin said. "It's been as good as anything I've seen or anybody has seen. After a little bit of a rocky start and some injuries, he put a lot of work in to get himself in this position, so give him credit for that. It's been an incredible run."
It seemed no-hitter watch was on every five days, and Snell did actually throw his first, one of several performances in which he extended his pitch count, seemingly sending a message to executives around the league.
Snell said that whichever team gets him this offseason will find he is more durable than people think. He has been careful with his arm the last two seasons, in large part because of how much money is on the line, and he said he's ready to take the constraints off.
"All I want to do is pitch," he said. "It sucks, too, just because I have to be smart, and that's just where I'm at right now, but once I sign that deal it's just pitching, pitching, pitching. I love doing that. That's all I truly care about."
It'll be up to front offices to decide how much they're willing to bet on those beliefs. By the time the Giants got the expected version of Snell, it was just about too late for the team, but Snell says he has no regrets about the way everything played out. He expects to sign earlier this time around and have a normal spring, but if this is it for him as a Giant, he won't be looking back and wondering what might have been.
"I wouldn't change a thing. It all happened for a reason. Me wanting to change anything that happened, I feel like that would be wrong," Snell said. "It all happened the way it should have happened, I believe that. I learned from that. I've never been in that position. When I said I was ready, I was wrong, but I really did believe I was ready. I was working as hard as I could away from spring training and doing everything I could to be ready. In those moments when I said I wasn't ready, it was the truth. There's no way for me to justify, 'Oh, I'm ready' and then you go face big league hitters and get out there and it was like, 'Wow, I'm not even close to where I thought I was.'
"And I had those conversations. No, I wouldn't undo a thing. It all happened the right way, the way it was supposed to happen. I learned a lot, I learned a lot about myself and just being smarter next time, but also hopefully I won't have to repeat it."
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