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Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will enter free agency after one season with the San Francisco Giants.
Snell declined his $38.5 million player option and will become a free agent ahead of the 2025 season, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
B/R Walk-Off @BRWalkoff
Blake Snell has opted out of the second year of his deal with the Giants
He is now a free agent pic.twitter.com/JDVpgTezhK
The pitcher earned $15 million in 2025, and was set to receive a $17 million signing bonus on Jan. 15. Snell was also scheduled to have $15 million of his 2025 salary deferred until July 1, 2027.
Snell taking his 2025 option looked like an all but forgone conclusion as the reigning Cy Young winner struggled early in his age-31 season, pitching a 10.42 ERA through 19.0 innings in his first five starts of the campaign.
After a stint on the IL, Snell’s season began to improve when he returned to the rotation in July.
Through his final eight starts of the campaign he posted a 1.31 ERA, allowing 65 strikeouts to 19 walks and pitching an Aug. 2 no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds.
The nine inning effort sealed the first no-no of Snell’s career, helping lower his full-season ERA to 3.12 and raising the expectation he would opt out of his San Francisco deal in order to seek a longer-term contract.
The Giants could now seek to re-sign Snell by offering him a longer-term deal.
Snell has not gotten the opportunity to pitch in a postseason game since his 2022 season with the San Diego Padres, and after a disappointing 2024 campaign it is not clear if that will change in San Francisco. Despite bringing in manager Bob Melvin, spending money on a historically high payroll and making the offseason acquisitions of Snell and Robbie Ray, the Giants missed the postseason for the third straight time since the team’s 2021 NLDS exit.
But Snell told reporters after the end of his 2024 season that he sees “a lot of promise” in the Giants organization.
“I just want to be somewhere that wants me, that loves me and will invest in me to be the best player that I can be to help them win,” Snell said in September, per Maria Guardado of MLB.com. “I like it here. I hope it’s here.”
Winning a bidding war for Snell could be costly for the Giants after the Cy Young-quality pitching he demonstrated in the latter part of the 2024 campaign. The team will be potentially limited in free agency by the luxury tax implications of last season.
On the other hand, Snell missed time due to multiple injuries last season, and the fact that he is heading into his age-32 campaign could lower how much teams are willing to pay for the ace.
Whatever his next contract, Snell is sure to be one of the most highly-valued free agents of the 2025 offseason. He proved this fall he is still capable of being a game-changing ace for a team in need of a starter.
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