As the baseball world continues to digest the blockbuster agreement between ace pitcher Blake Snell and the Giants, it appears there were other teams interested in the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, including the New York Yankees.
Snell and his agent Scott Boras were engaged in late talks with the Yankees, the New York Post's Jon Heyman reported.
However, considering Boras' approach to maximizing his client’s contracts to be cash-heavy at the front, the amount the Yankees would have to pay in taxes would not be worth it.
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Snell’s reported two-year, $62 million contract with the Giants has an opt-out clause after the first year and gives San Francisco an excellent one-two punch at the top of the rotation alongside Logan Webb.
The Yankees have a projected $290 million payroll and are subject to some of the harshest luxury taxes if they sign more free agents. Had New York signed Snell, they would have gone over the final $297 million threshold and subject to a 110 percent tax.
While the Yankees have been over the luxury-tax threshold plenty of times in the past, the new collective bargaining agreement imposes stiff penalties on teams that are repeatedly over the limit.
The 30-year-old Snell is one of seven pitchers in MLB history to win Cy Youngs in both the NL and AL, earning the honor last season with the San Diego Padres and in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
San Francisco Giants
Snell went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts, beating out new teammate Webb for the Cy Young.
The Giants have spent over $300 million this offseason to bring in Jung Hoo Lee, Jorge Soler, Matt Chapman, Jordan Hicks and now Snell as they look to keep pace with the high-spending Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
San Francisco has made the playoffs once in the past seven years and the franchise hopes Snell is the final piece to return it to relevance.