San Francisco Giants Top Priority in Free Agency is to Bring Back Cy Young Ace

The San Francisco Giants need to bring back their superstar.

John Hefti-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants are clearly littered with problems after another missed postseason, now making it seven times in the last eight seasons that there has been no October baseball in the Bay Area.

There were a lot of reasons why the team again fell short as they have made a habit of doing, most of them revolving around not enough talent in the clubhouse. That's why ownership decided to part ways with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and instead hired former Giants superstar Buster Posey in his place.

In Posey's first offseason at the helm, one of his first big decisions is going to be what to do about ace pitcher Blake Snell. The two-time Cy Young winner seems poised to decline his $30 million player option and instead head to free agency where he will try to cash in on a multi-year deal valued at least at that $30 million AAV or potentially even more. And after another great season where Snell rebounded from injury to close the year like his old self, someone will likely give it to him. As Snell's decision looms, Zach Pressnell of FanSided says that keeping the ace is critical for San Francisco this winter.

"The number one priority for the Giants this offseason is going to be finding a way to bring their ace, Blake Snell, back to San Francisco next season," Pressnell wrote. "The tough part with this is that Snell's market is expected to be very hot, with it becoming more and more likely that he gets the big contract that he was searching for last offseason."

After a tough start to the year that included a stint on the injured list, Snell was phenomenal down the stretch for the Giants. He bounced back to finish the year with an ERA just above 3.0, a WHIP that was the second-best of his career, and the highest strikeout per nine innings of his career. The case can be made that Snell should just opt in, but that feels unlikely given that the notorious Scott Boras is his agent and Boras has a history of pushing his clients towards free agency.

If Snell does in fact opt out, San Francisco must not be cheap in the quest to bring him back. Finding an ace is not easy, and the Giants have one in the clubhouse already. They would be wise to not just let him walk.