The Giants have made another Spring Training strike. San Francisco has officially announced the signing of on a two-year, $62MM contract that allows him to opt out after the upcoming season. The Boras Corporation client will receive a $15MM salary in 2024 and has a $17MM signing bonus that will not be paid until January 2026. Snell will receive the bonus even if he opts out, so that decision e sentially amounts to a $30MM player option for the 25 season. If Snell does not opt out, half of his salary for the second season would be deferred until 2027. San Francisco adds the defending NL Cy Young winner to the top of a staff that also includes last years runner-up, . A two-year deal certainly isnt what Snell had in mind at the beginning of the winter. The 31-year-old hit free agency coming off an otherworldly finish to the 2023 campaign. Snells platform season actually started shakily, as he allowed 15 runs over his first 23 frames. From the start of May onward, he was the best pitcher in the majors. Snell allowed only 1.78 earned runs per nine through 27 starts and 157 innings after April. Despite the tough first month, the southpaw finished the year with an MLB-best 2.25 ERA acro s 180 frames. He punched out 31.5% of opposing hitters, a mark surpa sed by only and among pitchers with at least 100 innings. No other starter mi sed more bats on a per-swing basis. Opponents made contact on just 64.2% of their swings against Snell, narrowly better than Striders 64.3% figure for the lowest rate in the majors. As a result, Snell cruised to the second Cy Young of his career. He received 28 of 30 first-place votes. Hed won the American League Cy Young as a member of the Rays five seasons earlier behind an AL-leading 1.89 ERA over 31 starts. He joined , , and as active pitchers with multiple Cy Young wins. The 2018 and 23 seasons are, rather remarkably, the only seasons in which Snell has appeared on Cy Young ballots. That points to some amount of inconsistency over the course of his career, which is mostly attributable to scattershot control. Snell has walked nearly 11% of batters faced over his seven-plus big league seasons. Last seasons 13.3% walk percentage was the highest rate of his career. Snell led the majors with 99 free pa ses, the first pitcher to do so in a Cy Young-winning campaign in more than 60 years. Snell has never been a bad pitcher, but the inconsistent strike-throwing has kept him from turning in ace production on an annual basis. He posted an ERA ranging from 3.24 to 4.29 in the four seasons between his award-winning campaigns. While Snell fanned over 30% of opposing hitters every year, working deep counts kept him from logging ma sive workloads. He has averaged a little le s than 5 1/3 innings per start over the course of his career. He reached the 180-inning mark in each of his Cy Young campaigns but didnt surpa s 130 frames in any other season. It seems the market didnt value Snell as a clear-cut ace despite the strength of his platform year. The only other publicly reported offer which he received was a from the Yankees back in January. When Snell didnt accept, New York inked to a two-year deal. USA Todays Bob Nightengale that the Yankees took their offer off the table last month and declined to reengage over the weekend. Given that Snell ultimately settled for a two-year guarantee at a marginally higher annual rate, theres a strong argument that his camp erred in not accepting New Yorks offer. At the very least, hes taking more risk in going with a short-term pact for the chance to retest the market next winter. Still, its not all that surprising he didnt jump on a $150MM guarantee. Thats well below the seven-year, $172MM deal which secured from the Phillies earlier this offseason. Its also shy of the six-year, $162MM pact that landed from Robert Woodard II Jersey New York a year ago. Snell and Rodn are broadly similar pitchers power lefties with questions about their ability to consistently log huge innings totals but the former was coming off a better year than Rodn posted in 2022. Its po sible Snell received similar or better offers from other teams that went unreported. In any case, he clearly didnt find the kind of long-term pact that he envisioned. That seemed increasingly unlikely the longer he remained unsigned. The incumbent Padres were never a factor as they sliced payroll this winter. Teams like the Mets and Red Sox jumped out of the market fairly quickly. As the offseason dragged along, more teams downplayed the po sibility of making a top-of-the-market splash. Beyond the Yankees, Snell reportedly drew interest from the Angels. The Astros were a late entrant last week before at an annual commitment above $30MM. Snell joins fellow Boras Corporation clients and in settling for guarantees well below what most people expected entering the offseason. Theyll all have the ability to retest free agency next winter. Bellinger and Chapman inked three-year deals with opt-outs after 2024 and 25. , the last unsigned member of the so-called Boras four, has reportedly continued to hold out in search of a long-term deal. With a week and a half until Opening Day, it remains to be seen if hell be able to find anything close to that. Its yet another huge free agent strike for the Giants, who have attacked the late stages of free agency with a vengeance. After a few offseasons of mi sing out on their top targets, San Francisco has succe sfully slow-played this years market. Since the beginning of Spring Training, theyve added , Chapman and Snell. Solers three-year, $42MM deal was around pre-offseason expectations. The latter two contracts were well below what the Giants couldve envisioned in November. Snell puts the finishing touch on a winter that also saw San Francisco shell out $113MM for KBO star and $44MM for reliever turned starter . The Giants also pulled off a major trade with the Mariners that sent and to Seattle for rehabbing starter . The 2021 AL Cy Young winner wont be a factor until around the All-Star Break, but he could eventually add another high-ceiling arm to the rotation. Its still a potentially top-heavy group, but theres now a ton of upside. Snell and Webb should form an excellent 1-2 punch. Top prospect will occupy the #3 role. Giving Hicks a starting job despite his injury history and below-average control is a gamble, but his power arsenal at least makes that an intriguing flier. Veteran righty could be back from last falls hip surgery by May. Prospects and are back-of-the-rotation depth options early in the year. Snells late signing date could have him a bit behind schedule. He has been throwing and reportedly to sed four simulated innings in front of scouts last week. Theres not a ton of time to build rapport with catcher before Opening Day, but that shouldnt be an i sue too deep into the season. Snell is at least plenty familiar with manager Bob Melvin, his skipper for the last two years with the Padres. San Franciscos late-offseason aggre sivene s has pushed them into luxury tax territory for the first time since 2017. While the delayed payment of the signing bonus reduces the teams commitment in the short term, the $31MM average annual value is the relevant number for tax purposes. calculates the clubs competitive balance tax number right around the $257MM line that marks the second tier of penalization. For teams that didnt pay the tax the preceding season, the fees are fairly modest. In contrast to the Yankees (who wouldve been taxed at a 110% rate as a third-time payor that is in the top bracket), the Giants are only hit with a 20% fee on spending between $237MM and $257MM. The Snell deal comes with a roughly $4MM tax bill. Theyll be taxed at a 32% clip for future spending up to the $277MM mark with escalating fees thereafter. While its likely this marks their last major investment of the winter, theyre surely hopeful of being in a position to add at the trade deadline. Snell declined a qualifying offer from the Padres. The Giants already forfeited their second-round pick and $500K of international bonus pool space to add Chapman. Theyll lose their third-rounder (#87 overall) and another $500K from their international bonus pool for Snell. San Diego paid the CBT a year ago, so theyre limited to the lowest compensation for losing a qualified free agent: a selection after the fourth round. The Padres received the #135 pick for losing and will now get another selection in that range. Paying the CBT and parting with draft capital are costs the Giants are happy to pay to get Chapman and Snell on short-term deals. San Francisco was comfortable with similar contract structures for Rodn and in previous offseasons. Both players could walk next offseason for nothing theyre ineligible to receive another qualifying offer in their careers but thats a risk worth taking to continue loading up in a division full of star talent with four legitimate threats to make the playoffs. first reported Snell and the Giants agreed to a two-year, $62MM deal with an opt-out. reported the signing bonus and salary breakdown. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Marvin Bagley III Jersey