When the offseason began, pitcher Blake Snell was rumored to be seeking $200 million in free agency. The Angels weren't the only team unwilling to engage in a bidding war for the reigning National League Cy Young award winner for 2024.
No team was.
Flash forward to March. With the first regular-season MLB games less than a week away and the Angels still looking at a starting rotation absent an obvious ace, Snell remains a free agent.
Owner Arte Moreno said in February that he was "not going to spend money just to show that we're going to spend money." Now that the price tag on Snell has lowered considerably, will Moreno make a more modest investment?
According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, Snell is seeking a three-year, $66 million contract. And his agent, Scott Boras, has two teams on the hook — though both clubs are waiting for the number to fall:
Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell has informed the Houston Astros that he’s willing to sign a short-term deal to join them, but is seeking at least a two-year guarantee for $66 million, that includes an opt-out after the 2024 season. The Astros are intrigued, club officials say, but are the latest team to balk at his asking price. The Astros, who began exchanging proposals with agent Scott Boras earlier in the week, are waiting to see if the price-tag drops.
The San Francisco Giants remain in the picture for Snell, but also are waiting for Snell to lower his demands, just as they did when they signed third baseman Matt Chapman to a three-year, $52 million contract with opt-outs after each year.
Snell, 31, went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 32 starts (180 innings) for the Padres last season. His 2023 performance netted 28 of 30 first-place votes in NL Cy Young balloting.
The Astros are looking to reach the American League Championship Series for the eighth straight season, and thus far have had a more aggressive offseason than the Angels, who haven't had a winning season since 2015 or reached the playoffs since 2014.
Against this backdrop, losing Snell to a division rival would sting in Anaheim.
The average annual value of a three-year, $66 million deal would scarcely pay more than the one-year, $21 million deal Noah Syndergaard signed with the Angels prior to the 2022 season. Syndergaard was three years removed from his last healthy season and had never won a Cy Young award, let alone two.
The largest total contract Moreno has ever given a pitcher was C.J. Wilson's five-year, $77.5 million contract in December 2011.
The Angels are projected to begin the season with approximately $50 million to spend before incurring a competitive balance tax, according to Cot's. If Boras' offer to the Angels is the same as his offer to the Astros, it isn't obvious why Moreno is balking at the price.
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