SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — With less than two weeks until Opening Day, the Giants reportedly made one of their biggest additions of the offseason Monday evening.
Blake Snell, the reigning National League Cy Young winner, will reunite with manager Bob Melvin and shore up a depleted starting rotation, according to multiple reports. The deal, first reported by the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, is for a reported two years and $62 million with an opt out after this season.
Pending a physical, the deal has not been officially announced by the team.
Snell, 31, joins third baseman Matt Chapman as an exclamation point on the Giants’ offseason, bringing their total commitments north of $300 million, second only to the Dodgers. Like Chapman, Snell is a client of superagent Scott Boras who didn’t receive the nine-figure deal he was originally seeking.
A two-time Cy Young winner, Snell should slot into the No. 2 spot in the rotation behind Logan Webb, boosting a group that has two starters rehabbing from surgeries (Alex Cobb, Robbie Ray), another lost to injury this spring (Tristan Beck), another limited by injury this spring (Keaton Winn) and two others who have combined to start 15 games in the major leagues (Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison).
Under Melvin in San Diego last season, Snell’s effectively wild style of pitching led to the unique distinction of leading the National League with a 2.15 ERA but also with 99 walks. Using his dominant arsenal, though, he also stranded the most runners on base, leading to a unanimous first-place finish in the Cy Young voting, the second of his career, having previously won the award as a 25-year-old with the Rays in 2018.
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