Insider: The Yankees made Blake Snell a final offer of $150 million.
Shortly before the free agent decided to sign a two-year, $62 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, the New York Yankees made one last attempt to add two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to their rotation.
According to USA Today’s MLB insider Bob Nightengale, “the Yankees offered Blake Snell $150 million last month but pulled their offer and declined to re-enter the sweepstakes on Sunday.”
In the end, it seems that Snell was determined to maximize the average annual value (AAV) under his contract and intended to retest the market soon after. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that he has an opt-out clause in his new contract.
In recent days, the New York Yankees have “renewed talks” regarding Snell.
The Yankees have been linked to Snell for most of the offseason, and conjecture grew since their star pitcher Gerrit Cole is now expected to miss weeks of action due to an injury. Any significant AAV for Snell would have ultimately resulted in an impractical tax burden due to the Yankees’ current payroll.
“After pursuing multiple options to try and counter the 110 percent, fourth-tier tax the Yankees are facing as a team above the final $297 million threshold, the Yankees and Snell’s agent, Scott Boras, conducted renewed talks over the past few days, but they never got close to a deal,” Heyman wrote. “The Yankees and Boras attempted to come up with innovative methods to reduce the tax, but in the end, Boras would be highly costly for them as they are among the three teams that pay the fourth-tier tax, and there isn’t a clear way to reduce salary.”
The Yankees would have paid $96.1 million after the penalty to match the Giants’ deal for Snell, as The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty pointed out.
The New York Yankees Are Still Looking for Pitching Depth Snell’s arrival would have been greatly advantageous to a Yankees team that is facing serious rotational concerns, especially in light of Cole’s absence. The team is looking for seasons of recovery from Carlos Rodón (who finished with a 6.85 ERA in a 2023 hampered by injuries), Nestor Cortes (who finished with a 4.97 ERA in a 2023 troubled by injuries), and Clark Schmidt (who finished with a 4.64 ERA in 2023)
In order to complete the starting staff, the organization recruited veteran Marcus Stroman, who pitched for the Chicago Cubs last season with an ERA of 3.95. The team will also look to youngsters Cody Poteet, Clayton Beeter, and Luis Gil in addition to veteran Luke Weaver.
All in all, the rotation doesn’t seem to be World Series ready, and even with Snell off the market, the organization is still trying to fix that.
“Jordan Montgomery, the top free agent still available, is even less certain that he wants to return to the Bronx, so the Yankees will continue to pursue starting pitching, but their options are limited,” Heyman continued. “The Yankees’ attempts to acquire Jesus Luzardo of the Marlins or other players have stalled, and the starters that are still available are more depth players, led by Mike Clevinger and Michael Lorenzen, the 2023 All-Star.”
Snell won his second Cy Young award following a 2023 season in which he led the MLB with a 2.25 ERA, and none of those contenders had the same credentials. He was included on the first team of the All-MLB.
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