SAN FRANCISCO -- At times in the first half last season, it was clear 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, he was absolutely fascinating.
The left-hander always seemed to be chasing 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 wasn't right, or he didn't love his changeup, or he knew specific ways that he could be better even if he wouldn't divulge them. When he actually did throw a no-hitter, Snell was refreshingly candid, making it clear that he had gone the distance in part to prove to 30 MLB teams that he could, and that it shouldn't be held against him when he returned to free agency.
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BLAKE SNELL NO-HITS THE REDS pic.twitter.com/LysTXhhTak
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 3, 2024
At the end of the year, after declining to make what would have been his final start as a Giant, Snell stood in front of his locker and talked at length about his season and his future.
He said he had no regrets about 2024, even if it seemed like he should have quite a few, since his late arrival and slow start dug a hole for the Giants. He said all the right things about San Francisco, which you would expect from someone who had just experienced free agency and knew he was about to do so again. He also said his 2025 team would be getting a different version of Snell than the one who chose not to pitch on the final weekend in order 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 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."
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Snell said that day that the big deal would be there, and he was right. He said he would sign early this time, and he was right.
But his victory is a massive "L" for the Giants.
Snell on Tuesday agreed to a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a decision he announced on his Instagram page. The deal will pay him a reported $182 million over five years and further strengthen the reigning World Series champs, who are -- to borrow a phrase -- light years ahead of their longtime rival.
The Giants might be disappointed by the ultimate landing spot, but not too surprised. The Dodgers had interest in Snell last March, but the Giants gained an edge by offering a one-and-one deal that would allow him to opt out and return to free agency.
That deal ended up getting the Giants just 20 starts, with Snell twice hitting the IL. When he returned the second time, on July 9, Snell had a 9.51 ERA and had yet to complete five innings in a start. The rest of the way, he posted a 1.23 ERA.
Over those final 14 starts, Snell pitched seven-plus innings four times and twice threw 114 pitches. It was no secret he was trying to prove he could be durable, and perhaps that's part of why the Giants never seemed all that enthused about a reunion.
Like Snell, they said all of 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 for several years have shied away from long-term deals for older starters. At times they have been right (Carlos Rodón) and at times they have instantly had regrets (Kevin Gausman).
For all of his brilliance, Snell was on his own program, and that's not the type of pitcher who will convince an organization to change course after years of backing away from safer bets. You can't at all blame Snell for protecting his arm down the stretch, but it certainly was an interesting contrast with Matt Chapman, who directly negotiated with Buster Posey and was annoyed that he couldn't play nine innings the night he was signing his own massive long-term deal.
There's no way for the Giants to sugarcoat the fact that this deal came from Los Angeles. The rich get richer, with Snell joining a rotation that will include Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, two players the Giants chased at 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 lefty would be the ideal co-ace for Logan Webb moving forward, and the Giants have to hope Ray is ready to return to his Cy Young-caliber form. They'll hope that Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong can take the leap, and that's not at all unrealistic.
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 take his price past $200 million.
The Giants will add a veteran starting pitcher this offseason, but they might be forced to hang out in that second tier, which isn't necessarily a problem if they can fill holes elsewhere, most notably at shortstop. The Kansas City Royals made modest additions last year with Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha last offseason and ended up in the MLB playoffs, and there are quite a few veterans who fit that mold this time around.
There is nobody as dominant as Snell, though. When he's right, even getting a hit off of him feels like a challenge, and it's one the Giants will have to take on over the next five years.