San Francisco Giants Signing of Blake Snell Was Roller Coaster Ride

The grades for the San Francisco Giants signing Blake Snell were all over the map.

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. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

One of the biggest signings ahead of the 2024 MLB season was the San Francisco Giants bringing on reigning Cy Young Award winner, Blake Snell.

Coming off a dominant season with the San Deigo Padres, he agreed to a two-year, $62 million deal that has an opt-out for the 2025 season. It is widely expected that he will exercise that and hit free agency again.

Out of the gate, the results were disastrous. As a result, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report had given the signing an F grade.

“Through 91 team games, Blake Snell had made six starts for the San Francisco Giants, allowing 25 earned runs across 23.2 innings pitched. That's an ERA of 9.51 sprinkled around a slightly delayed start to the season that was followed by two separate trips to the IL.

At the time, it was one of the worst short-term contracts ever signed, and it looked like a sure thing that Snell was going to opt in on that second season to get his full $62M, much to the chagrin of San Francisco,” wrote the MLB expert.

The late start to Spring Training looked to hamper Snell. He didn’t have his deal finalized until March 16th, which meant an abbreviated ramp-up to the regular season.

As Miller noted he spent time on the injured list twice and when he was able to pitch, he wasn’t any good. It was a disastrous signing.

But, in what has become typical Snell fashion, he found his groove in the second half. His production improves as the weather warms and he looked like his dominant self after those 91 games.

“But over the final 71 team games, Snell reharnessed his Cy Young magic from yesteryear, allowing just 11 earned runs in 80.1 innings of work for a 1.23 ERA.

He struck out better than 38 percent of batters faced (compared to 26 percent in the first half) and the Giants won 12 of his 14 starts, despite giving Snell more than four runs of support on just three occasions,” Miller wrote.

With the improved performance, the MLB expert gave the Snell deal a B+ in his re-grade. He has set himself up for a nice payday, as all signs point to him hitting the open market for a second year in a row.

But, San Francisco isn't going to let him leave without a fight.