San Francisco Giants Free Agent Ace Projected to Land $100 Million Deal

The San Francisco Giants will need to pony up if they want to keep their ace in town.

Sep 22, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell (7) pitches during the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have been well-known this century for their big-time left-handed starting pitchers.

From Barry Zito to Madison Baumgarner to Blake Snell, the torch has been passed from ace to ace with seemingly no end in sight.

That is until Snell triggered the opt-out clause in the contract that he signed with the club last offseason after proving to the baseball world that he is legit and not someone who has good seasons every once in a while.

It has been a ride for the ace throughout his career, suiting up for three teams (so far) and performing better at each stop than he did in his last.

Snell has been named an All-Star once in his career, but has won the Cy Young Award twice, once in the American League and once in the National League, and has done so in dominating fashion.

The lefty is a groundball pitcher by trade, but a strikeout artist at heart, carrying a career K/9 of 11.2 through his nine years in Major League Baseball, an all-time high mark for any pitcher to ever play the sport.

It is the strikeouts that will land Snell a new deal in free agency this winter, while the groundball induction will keep him consistent, depending on the defense behind him.

In a recent article for The Athletic, Tim Britton took a crack at projecting the contracts that the top available free agents will garner this winter, with Snell projected to land a four-year, $110 million deal.

This comes as a surprise with his track record of dominance, as the last deal that Snell signed was for $23.5 million, so this projection from Britton has the ace opting out to only get a $4 million raise.

Snell's contract should come much closer to the $30 million mark, if not hit that mark on the nose, as he is one of the best available pitchers on the market this year, and could help the rotation of any contending team.

While the Giants do have an ample amount of room on their payroll to land the ace with either figure, they need more than just one ace to remain competitive in the National League West, which could be the second-best division in baseball and may be better suited splitting that money up among multiple younger players.

It will be an interesting winter for more than just San Francisco with Snell now available to take his talents anywhere.