This is not a good look at all. Outside of that one really good regular season a few years back, what have the San Francisco Giants done in the last decade to signify to the rest of baseball that they are still a well-run operation? Despite winning three of five World Series from 2010 to 2014, I feel like we are continually watching a former contending team nickel and diming its star players like Blake Snell.
Over the weekend, Snell divulged to Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle why he did not return the Giants in free agency. He may have signed with the Giants as a last resort last offseason due to his representation overplaying its hand. The big key is the Giants did not want to pick up the phone and let Snell know they were still interested in him. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Snell seemed somewhat flabbergasted about the whole ordeal, as he thought he was well-liked.
"The Giants didn’t even talk to me. It was surprising — I thought they really liked me.”
The fact that his former skipper Bob Melvin would not return his texts is yet another huge red flag.
“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.””
Snell is part of the defending World Series champion Dodgers, a team that has owned the NL West.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
San Francisco Giants let Blake Snell walk to Los Angeles Dodgers willingly
What I do think gets lost in the sauce a bit when it comes to baseball is MLB does not have a salary cap. The league needs a salary floor more than anything, but teams that want to spend big like the Dodgers can always do so, assuming they are willing to pay the high-priced luxury tax. When a league is defined by a hard salary cap like the NFL, everyone has the same amount of resources to allocate.
Obviously, there is a lot at play to why the Giants have regressed to the middle of the pack in a deep National League in recent years. I do not have the time or the bandwidth to really get into all that. What is important to understand is losing a star pitcher like Snell is triply bad. He no longer pitches for you, he now pitches for a rival, and he has a troubling story about how things went on his way out.
In short, why would a star player like Snell want to pitch for a team like the Giants that seems to be wishy washy about everything? That may not entirely be the case, but that is the vibes they are giving off. The Dodgers may be hated by the rest of the league, but they have a strong identity heading into this season. I do not know if they will wear the black hat, but they are here and ready to contend again.
Snell to the Dodgers signifies that not as many teams in baseball are all that serious about winning.