Blake Snell may be buttering up Padres front office for reunion in free agency

It is often the case that when a player leaves a team in free agency, there are some hard feelings. At times, the player can feel undervalued or even ignored. Teams have their payrolls and agendas to consider, but that doesn't stop guys from feeling slighted. In the case of the San Diego Padres and Blake Snell, their parting seems to have been far more amicable than usual.

In a lot of ways, the good vibes between the two sides makes sense. Snell won a Cy Young with the Padres and the reality is that the death of owner Peter Seidler created very understandable financial uncertainty for the team. While Snell's free agency didn't go the way that he hoped, there has never been much of a hint that he held the Padres responsible for that (or even his departure).

In fact, Snell appears to still hold San Diego's front office in very high regard. Before he departed in free agency, Snell promised to throw them a pizza party this year like he had done previously. True to his word, Snell did indeed have pizza and cookies sent to the front office staff last week when the Giants came to town, which bodes well for a potential reunion between the two sides this offseason.

Blake Snell throws pizza party for Padres front office in move that could signal willingness to return

This is just incredibly wholesome. While players can often promise to keep in touch and even hold their old teams in extremely high regard, that's not always the case. But Snell stayed true to his word and made made sure to let the Padres know he missed them (while insuring that their bellies were full).

Additionally, this could be more than just a feel good story. The current chatter is that with him pitching well in the second half for San Francisco, Snell is likely to test free agency once again and opt out of his deal with the Giants. There had already been some rumors floating around that the Padres could be among Snell's suitors if that happens, and this lingering connection between the two sides is only going to increase that speculation.

At the end of the day, a potential Padres reunion with Snell is still going to come down to money. San Diego has a number of long-term contracts on their payroll at the moment that makes another mega deal tough to hand out, and Snell isn't going to sign a team-friendly pact if he is hitting the market again with Scott Boras by his side. However, negotiations seem like they could start in a promising place if both sides miss each other the way it. seems the Padres and Snell do.

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