Angels Likely One of Two Finalists for Blake Snell: Report
The MLB season starts in six days with the Seoul Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. A week later, the rest of Major League Baseball kick off their seasons on Opening Day.
And yet, reigning National League Cy Young award winner Blake Snell remains a free agent.
With every passing day that goes by, it becomes less and less likely Snell will be ready to start the season on time. So, at some point, something has to give.
On Thursday, MLB insider for the New York Post Jon Heyman spoke about Snell on a Bleacher Report live stream, and said he believes it's pretty much down to two teams: The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels. He doesn't mention the New York Yankees, who are waiting final confirmation on Gerrit Cole's injury.
“To me, the Giants and the Angels are the two teams right now for Snell," Heyman said.
However, Heyman did say there could always be a surprise and didn't want to rule anything out with a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have already spent over $1 billion this offseason. But it does sound like, based on what Heyman has heard, the Giants and Angels are the two most likely landing spots.
The Angels have a clear need in their starting rotation for an ace-level talent.
Right now, their starting rotation is Patrick Sandoval, Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth.
There isn't a clear top-level talent there, especially with the recent struggles of Sandoval. So, someone like Snell would give this rotation the exact piece they're missing.
Snell is coming off a dominant 2023 season in which he had a league-best 2.25 ERA and 182 ERA+. He also had a career-high 234 strikeouts in 180 innings of work.
Snell is a one-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young award winner. He appears open to a short term, high AAV deal based on recent reports.
