Cy Young Winner Blake Snell Reportedly Wanted an Insane Amount of Money From the New York Yankees

We already knew about the reported offer from the New York Yankees to reigning National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell. Now? We know more about what the pitcher himself wanted.

We already knew that the New York Yankees offered free agent pitcher Blake Snell a six-year deal worth $150 million this offseason.

Now, we know more about what Snell countered with, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

– Spring training is less than three weeks away but Cody Bellinger and J.D. Martinez still have not received a formal contract offer. Two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell’s lone offer was a six-year, $150 million deal from the New York Yankees after Snell requested $270 million over nine years.

A few things to consider here:

1) Yoshinobu Yamamoto got $325 million this offseason after never having pitched in Major League Baseball, so big money for pitchers is clearly there. It's understandable that Snell wants big money given where he's at in his career, but he seems unlikely to get close to that asking price.

Also, recent big money deals for veteran pitchers haven't worked out great. Chris Sale's deal with the Red Sox was a disaster and he was just traded to the Braves. Carlos Rodon barely pitched in year one of a six-year deal last year with the Yankees and Jacob deGrom was hurt yet again in 2023 and will miss most of 2024. Robbie Ray also will end up missing at least a year and a half after signing a five-year deal before the 2022 season. Teams are certainly leery of big money deals for pitchers, and nine years? That fear is justifiable. 

2) Back to Snell, rumors have indicated that he wants to play for his hometown Seattle Mariners, but they appear unable to get close to anything in the ballpark for his services.

He is coming off a year in which he went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA for the San Diego Padres. He won his second Cy Young Award, having also won the AL Cy Young award in 2018 as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.

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