LOS ANGELES — The Giants agreed to make certain sacrifices when they signed Blake Snell . He cost them a third-round draft pick when they’d already forfeited their second-round selection. His two-year, $62 million contract meant exceeding the luxury tax threshold for the first time since 2017.
The deal included the familiar downside risk of a player opt-out after the first season. And they would be signing him on March 18, when the first San Francisco-bound equipment trucks were being loaded at Scottsdale Stadium. Snell wouldn’t be ready to pitch in the Giants’ initial turn through the rotation, at least.
Advertisement But reigning Cy Young Award winners do not sign pillow contracts. The Giants were tickled to land one while making a maximum commitment of just two seasons. They could be forgiven for mistaking all those millions for goose feathers.
Especially when their second series of the season would come at Dodger Stadium. Against their archrivals. And against a team that Snell had dominated throughout his career.
Snell had held the Los Angeles Dodgers to a .171 average over 13 starts. How tightfisted is that? Well, consider that Snell had been even better at limiting hits against the Dodgers than Clayton Kershaw has been against the Giants (.
205 average) over a Hall of Fame career that has amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Maybe Snell couldn’t be an equalizer in a rivalry that has been one-sided in seven of the past eight seasons. But on the days he pitc.