The San Francisco Giants have good reason to be disappointed with their losing record for 2024.
The front office spent more than $200 million, the third most of any Major League Baseball team, in the offseason to add several star players and boost their playoff chances.
They signed Jung Hoo Lee to a $113 million deal and he suffered a season-ending injury in May. They signed Jorge Soler to a $42 million deal and then traded him in July. And now another one of their major signings has seen an ignominious end to his Giants season.
The Giants gave two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell a two-year, $62 million deal that included a player opt out after this season. Earning $23.5 million and ultimately making just 20 starts this season, Snell made more than $1 million per outing.
With the team falling out of playoff contention before he was set to take his final start against the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that had also been eliminated from playoff contention, Snell scratched himself, arguing that there was no point in making that scheduled finale.
“We’re not playing a playoff team,” Snell said of the thinking behind his decision, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. “This game has no meaning. I think it was just probably the best case.”
However, not everyone would agree that the final games of a major-league season are meaningless, even if they lack playoff implications.
“The game was not totally meaningless, though,” Baggarly added. “The Giants needed to win Saturday and Sunday to finish with a .500 record — a cosmetic goal, perhaps, but also a matter of pride for coaches and players who want to end the year on a positive note. There’s also the matter of representing themselves well against the Cardinals, who were 4-0 against the Giants this season and dealt them a stinging loss in the Negro Leagues tribute game at Rickwood Field in June.”
After pitching for a 3.12 ERA and 145 strikeouts in the 20 starts he did make for the Giants this season, Snell plans to return to free agency and has likely earned himself a long-term deal. That might come via a return to the Giants or with any number of other suitors.
His decision to forego a final chance to face hitters this season is unlikely to hurt his free-agent prospects. But if he does move on from the Giants, it has provided a disappointing end to a stellar season on the mound.
“Sure, we would have liked him to (start on Saturday),” Giants manager Bob Melvin said, per Baggarly. “But he came to the decision that was best for him.”
More MLB: Dodgers All-Star slugger projected for four-year, $100 million extension
