San Francisco Giants Need to Break Disturbing Trend to Re-Sign Ace

The San Francisco Giants have a chance to re-sign their best pitcher, but will need to do something they don't often do.

Aug 17, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell (7) walks on the field while wearing a hat as part of player’s weekend before the game against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants brought in a reigning Cy Young winner this offseason, but he could already be on his way out.

Almost as soon as Blake Snell got comfortable on the mound, reports started swirling that he would soon be opting out of his contract and heading back to free agency.

The good news is that no one is ruling out a return to the Giants just yet. There is at least one thing they need to do to make it realistic, though.

As Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer examined the market for Snell, San Francisco came in at the No. 5 most likely landing spot. With one recent trend making it hard for them to be taken as a serious candidate.

"In the last decade, the Giants have been more of an opportunistic shopper than an aggressive one, favoring short-term agreements over long-term ones," said Rymer. "This worked when Snell fell into their laps in March, but it may not be a good recipe for repeat success."

During the time that President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi has been in control of the team, they've only haded out one contract of five years or longer.

That was the six-year, $113 million deal handed out to outfielder and Korean superstar Jung-Hoo Lee this past offseason.

Both Snell and Matt Chapman were signed to short deals that gave them the option to leave the year after signing their deal. That won't be an option again this time around.

Rymer suggested that the southpaw could fetch a deal in the neighborhood of six-years, $200 million.

"Granted, this is Snell's age-31 season and he'll turn 32 next April. But not so old that he has no hope of a long-term megadeal," said the writer. "Aaron Nola got seven years, $172 million off his age-30 season and Jacob deGrom got five years, $185 million off his age-34 season."

It's a lot of money to hand out for a pitcher that had as rough of a start to the season as Snell did, but he's certainly turned things around to where this would probably be worth it for San Francisco.

Over his last eight starts, dating back to about a month and a half, he has an ERA of 1.03. Batters are slashing just .117/.193/.170 against him.

That's good for best in the league in that span among starters with at least 20 innings pitched. He also leads the league in strikeouts.

The Giants will need to open up their pocket books if they want to retain their best pitcher.