Blake Snell's contract details make it crystal clear why the Astros said pass
The official numbers of Blake Snell's contract aren't as cut-and-dry as $31 million per year. For the Astros, the devil was in the details.
The Houston Astros being involved in the Blake Snell sweepstakes would not have been on anyone's bingo card, yet with the reigning NL Cy Young winner sitting in free agency through mid-March, they had a chance to snag him.
The Astros are normally a team flooded with tremendous starting pitching depth but they can field almost an entire starting rotation on their Opening Day IL. Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy are all expected to begin the year on the IL.
Snell signing with the San Francisco Giants was a pretty big blow for an Astros team that is clearly all in on 2024. Seeing that Snell signed for just two years made it even more puzzling as to why Houston let him go. Now that The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal has come through with the contract details, it makes more sense.
Astros passing on Blake Snell makes more sense after full details were revealed
The initial terms seemed to be incredibly team-friendly for the Astros. It was a two-year deal worth $62 million with an opt-out after the first year. The updated terms are less of what Houston should be looking for.
The $15 million Snell is owed in 2024 seems perfect, and the $30 million Snell is owed in 2025 also seems fine. What's happening with the remaining money is where things get a bit iffy.
Snell is due a $17 million signing bonus in 2026, and there is also $15 million of deferred money if Snell does not opt-out. Future money is not ideal for the Astros.
Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Framber Valdez, Jose Urquidy, Justin Verlander, and Ryan Pressly are all set to hit free agency either this season or next. Whether Houston wants to keep all of those guys around remains to be seen, but it'd be a lot harder for them to do so if they have to give Snell all of this future money.
There's no denying that Snell would be a great fit for the short term, but we need to emphasize the short term. Dragging money into the future might help a team like the Giants that doesn't have much future money invested, but if the Astros are planning on keeping their core around, paying Snell when he's not even going to be pitching for the Astros is not an ideal way of going about doing that.
feed