Insider Says San Francisco Giants Ace Could Opt Into Deal After This Season

Heading into this year, the San Francisco Giants seemed to have gotten the bargain of the offseason when they finally landed the reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell on a two-year, $62 million deal that was peanuts compared to the $300 million contract that was projected early.

Viewed as one of the best arms on the market, he seemed poised to have a robust list of suitors.

That never materialized, though, and really only the New York Yankees were involved before he and his agent turned down what they had offered.

Still sitting as a free agent well into Spring Training, Snell ultimately took the deal with the Giants that would allow him to hit the open market after the season by opting out of his player option.

If he was able to put together consecutive elite years, then he would certainly do that and become the top available starting pitching in free agency again, likely getting the megadeal he was originally searching for this past winter.

However, that has not been the case.

Snell has an 0-3 record and 9.51 ERA across his six starts, and has now been placed on the injured list for the second time.

There was concern this end of the variance spectrum might rear its ugly head after he led the MLB in walks with 99 last season and followed up his AL Cy Young win in 2018 with a poor 4.29 ERA the following year.

Because of that, Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY now believes the star left-hander is going to opt into his contract with San Francisco after the season.

"The two pitchers [Snell and Jordan Montgomery] have opt-outs in their contracts, but unless they drastically pick it up in the second half, it looks like they may be staying," he writes.

That's likely going to be the case.

At 32 years old, his market would almost certainly not be as robust coming off this type of performance and he would be hard-pressed to land something that would pay him $38.5 million like he is scheduled to get in 2025 with the Giants.

On the other end of the spectrum, this might look like a disaster for San Francisco if he does decide to exercise his player option for next year, but Snell has also been able to bounce back from poor performances often.

After posting an ERA+ of 103 in 2019, he rebounded for a 127 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

Upon being traded to the San Diego Padres in 2021, he was poor with a 4.20 ERA and 92 ERA+, only to right the ship and record a 3.38 ERA and 112 ERA+ the following year, before winning his second Cy Young award in 2023.

If Snell is able to recover from this poor showing like he has throughout his career, then the Giants will have an ace to pair with Logan Webb at the top of their rotation in 2025, something they were expecting this season.

He certainly will be expensive, projected to be the fourth-highest paid starter behind Shohei Ohtani, Zack Wheeler, and Jacob deGrom next year, but if they are able to get the Cy Young-level of production that the lefty has been able to produce, then San Francisco will reap those benefits.