Spring has officially sprung around Major League Baseball at complexes in Florida and Arizona. However, free-agent hurler and reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell remains unsigned. There has been lots of smoke recently between him and the New York Yankees. What could it take for a deal to get done, though?
ESPN’s Paul Hembekides joined Buster Olney on a February 21 episode of the Baseball Tonight podcast to talk about the situation between Snell and the Yankees. He put himself in general manager Brian Cashman’s shoes to make a hypothetical pitch to team owner Hal Steinbrenner. His idea was to offer Snell a two-year, $87 million contract with an opt-out after 2024. The $43.5 million annual average value would make him the highest-paid pitcher this season, per Spotrac.
Hembekides’ reasoning behind going for it is because of the current state of the American League East. The Baltimore Orioles have a hole in their rotation because of Kyle Bradish’s injury. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays also didn’t make significant upgrades this winter. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox are still looking like a last-place team.
So, the opportunity to retake the AL East is there. In Hembekides’ eyes, adding Snell to New York’s rotation with an improved roster is a path to them winning 100-plus games in 2024.
Yankees Still Looking for Roster Upgrades
Whether it’s Snell or somebody else, the Yankees don’t appear to be completely done with their 2024 roster ahead of Opening Day. Outfielder Aaron Judge fueled that fire by making a comment to the media about another move potentially being on the way.
Judge didn’t share specifics on what could be coming. But that’s where SNY’s Andy Martino comes in. Responding to Judge’s comment, he said, “He’s right, Yankees front office still having conversations about adding pitching,” on February 20 via X (formerly Twitter).
There are plenty of free-agent starters still available, but the top two include Snell and Jordan Montgomery.
