Blake Snell's new team, contract details will give Padres fans sinking feeling

The pain from losing Blake Snell just got worse now that he actually has a new team.

Eric Cole

Aug 16, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell (4) leaves / Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

The San Diego Padres seemed like they were going to emerge from an extremely tough offseason in a pretty good spot. Obviously the talent on the Padres roster decreased, because that is what happens when guys of the caliber of Juan Soto, Blake Snell, and Josh Hader leave town. However, San Diego's roster additions have looked good and their young guys have shown out at camp as well.

However, Blake Snell was still out there on the free agent market. If he signed with some American League team for a crazy deal, the Padres would probably have felt great about things. If he signed with a rival, however, Snell would be around to constantly remind San Diego fans of what might have been.

Sadly, Snell chose the latter, as the division-rival Giants signed Snell to a two year, $62 million deal with an opt-out after the first year. Hopefully, this extended pain ceases (pun intended) after just one season.

Padres losing Blake Snell to the SF Giants is a disaster

This isn't strictly about the loss of Snell, because that was inevitable. It was honestly kind of remarkable that AJ Preller even went out and traded for Dylan Cease last week. Given the state of the Padres' finances and coming off the disappointment of last season, there was never a chance that San Diego was going to pay Snell what he was looking for this offseason.

What matters here is where Snell ended up. The Dodgers already loaded up this offseason, and if he had somehow ended up there, it wouldn't have changed much beyond allowing the same super team to get much more super. With the Giants' strategy of waiting these free agents out resulting in them signing both Matt Chapman and Snell, the NL West became that much harder to navigate. Right now, the only team in the division that isn't good is the Rockies.

The Dodgers had a banner offseason, the Diamondbacks made some nice moves and are coming off a World Series run, and now the Giants appear to be a vastly improved team. The Padres still have the talent to make things interesting, but the division race just got a whole lot harder now that Snell has landed with the Giants.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.