After his dominant 2024 season with the San Francisco Giants, it was hardly a surprise that Blake Snell opted out of the second year of his contract to seek a bigger payday in free agency. What is a surprise, though, is that the Giants seemingly let him go without a fight.
In a recent interview with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required), Snell – who has since signed a five-year, $182,000,000 contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers – revealed that his former team didn't even reach out to his camp to discuss a new offer.
"The Giants didn’t even talk to me," Snell told Slusser. "It was surprising – I thought they really liked me."
A two-time Cy Young winner, Snell went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 145 strikeouts over 104 innings (20 starts) with the Giants last season, so it's hard to believe that they wouldn't want him back. Between that and his close relationships with manager Bob Melvin, fellow starting pitcher Logan Webb and third baseman Matt Chapman, Snell felt certain that the Giants would want to engage in negotiations and was shocked when they didn't.
“I know Bob loves me, and I’m really close with Logan and Chappy, so I was shocked," Snell said (via Slusser). I thought they’d come after me right away. I really liked it there. I was happy there. But they never even said anything to me. I texted Bob and he didn’t reply, and Bob always replies to me, so I kind of had a feeling. But it was weird, especially with all the other teams that were interested in me.”
Dodgers' Blake Snell reveals he was disrespected by Giants in free agency as new rivalry layer unfolds
The Dodgers, obviously, were one of the teams interested in Snell during free agency, and the inaction from San Francisco's front office allowed them to swoop in and nab Snell in one of the first major moves of MLB free agency.
It's unclear why the Giants never made an effort to hang onto Snell; perhaps his market was simply too rich for them. Regardless, their loss is the Dodgers' gain. If the hard-throwing lefty can be as effective for Los Angeles as he was for San Francisco, it will be yet another way for the Dodgers to stick it to their National League West rivals.
More Dodgers content from Dodgers Way