Blake Snell to Sign With NL West Rival Giants, Ending His Padres Career

The reigning NL Cy Young award winner went 29-25 with a 3.15 ERA in 83 starts as a Padre.
Blake Snell to Sign With NL West Rival Giants, Ending His Padres Career
Blake Snell to Sign With NL West Rival Giants, Ending His Padres Career /
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A reunion between Blake Snell and the San Diego Padres always seemed like a longshot.

Monday, the divorce became official.

Snell agreed to a two-year contract with the NL West rival San Francisco Giants, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The deal is for $62 million with an opt out after the first year.

The 31-year-old left-hander is coming off a season in which he won the National League Cy Young award, and carried the Padres’ rotation to the finish line of a disappointing season.

Snell went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 32 starts, with a career-high 234 strikeouts in 180 innings. He received 28 of 30 first-place votes in Cy Young balloting.

The Padres’ front office has been eyeing a payroll reduction since the end of last season. A free agent for the first time in his career, Snell was a better fit on the team’s starting pitching depth chart than their budget.

The best free-agent starter remaining on the open market, Snell was among a handful of premier players who remained unsigned into spring training. He, outfielder Cody Bellinger, designated hitter J.D. Martinez and left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery are represented by agent Scott Boras. Montgomery and Martinez remains unsigned.

The Padres acquired Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays in a Dec. 2020 trade for Francisco Mejia, Luis Patiño and two minor leaguers. He went 29-25 with a 3.15 ERA in 83 starts as a Padre, striking out 575 batters across 436.2 innings.


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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content for Halos Today and Inside the Padres, and is the author of 'The 50 Greatest Dodger Games Of All Time.' He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.