The Yankees are reportedly still interested in left-hander Blake Snell, a free agent. This was reported over the weekend. The Giants and Angels are still options, but Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that the team has extended an offer to the southpaw.
Despite that offer, SNY’s Andy Martino put a dampener on the proceedings by stating there isn’t much of a momentum to close a deal right now.
The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty and Chris Kirschner have reported today that the club has sent an offer to the southpaw that includes no opt-out clauses. The post makes it rather evident that Snell had the aforementioned offer before the team signed Marcus Stroman.
Snell was reportedly offered $150 million over six years by the Yankees back in January, but the lefty preferred a lengthier contract or one with an average annual value of at least $30 million.
At the beginning of the offseason, MLBTR projected that Snell would sign a seven-year, $200 million contract. However, when he remained unsigned for several months, there was conjecture that he may entertain a short-term offer, which MLBTR recently looked into.
Although the specifics of the Yankees’ new offer are unknown, it doesn’t seem likely to be of the high AAV, short-term variety. The club’s competitive balance tax status may make it less advantageous for them to choose the high AAV option, according to the Kuty and Kirschner analysis.
The club’s CBT number, according to Roster Resource, is $307M, which is already higher than the $297M fourth and final tier. At that level, additional spending is subject to a 110 percent tax as a third-time payor.
It would be challenging for the team to use Snell creatively because of this. Using the example presented by Kuty and Kirschner, the team would have to pay $44 million in taxes in addition to Snell’s $40 million salary on a short-term contract. This means that the total cost to acquire Snell for this season would be $84 million.
This emphasizes how precarious Snell’s current situation is. Having just won a Cy Young last year after pitching to a 2.25 ERA with the Padres, it is clear that he is tremendously talented.
That makes him highly appealing, but because of his inconsistent play, clubs might not want to commit to him for an extended period of time. Between Cy Young victories in 2019 and 2022, he posted a 3.85 ERA and failed to reach 130 innings pitched in either of those seasons. Even at his peak performance from the previous season, he needed to pitch at a walk rate of about 13.3% and rely on support from an 86.7 percent strand rate and a.256 batting average on balls in play.
Some teams may choose a short-term contract because of this unreliability, but many competitors—like the Yankees—are over the CBT and must pay high taxes, while others have limited resources because of Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy and other factors.
.. The Yanks’ initial offer in January had an AAV of $25 million; maybe they are offering an additional year or a little more cash. Martino’s suggestion that nothing is nearly done suggests that this offer isn’t all that different from the one made last month.
There are still a ton of free agents available, with Boras representing all of the biggest names, even though some clubs may be a little bit overextended in this late stage of the winter. He wants to close deals for Jordan Montgomery, J.D. Martinez, Hyun Jin Ryu, Matt Chapman, Cody Bellinger, and Snell, among others.
It will be a challenging balancing act for Boras to find big deals for each of those guys because signing a contract for one could have the unintended consequence of cutting off another’s earning potential.
The Yankees have a solid rotation on paper, led by Carlos Rodón, Stroman, Nestor Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt, who support Gerrit Cole. If everyone is healthy, that’s a great group, but Rodón, Stroman, and Cortes all lost a lot of time last season. By acquiring four starter pitchers in exchange for Juan Soto, the team further reduced its depth. Schmidt still has an option left, so signing Snell or another starter could send him down to the minors and to sixth on the chart.
