Blake Snell Is A Good Option

Blake Snell Is A Good Option

By Cary Greene

December 19, 2023

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If the Yankees are unable to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto, they will surely pivot to other available free agent starting pitchers and that may wind up being not such a bad thing.

The bidding for free-agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has yet to hit $300 million, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan, but they might.

The reason I state that it might not be a bad thing if the Yankees pivot away from Yamamoto due to being outbid or due to him deciding to play for another ball club, is that Yamamoto has never thrown a single pitch in an MLB game. Granted, he’s been dominant in Japan, pitching in the Nippon Professional Baseball and it certainly seems like a number of teams have little to no doubt that Yamamoto will be able to make the jump to the big leagues, but the simple fact remains that Yamamoto has never faced MLB hitters before and the MLB baseball is also a different ball than he’s used to and that can absolutely impact spin rates on breaking balls that Japanese pitchers are used to commanding.

Are teams ready to give Yamamoto one of the biggest free-agent deals ever and commit to a decade-long contract? It becomes more of a risk as the cost climbs, so whichever team does wind up signing Yamamoto would need to be 100 percent okay with the risk entailed.

It's been my opinion since the off season started that the Yankees should be looking to reshape their starting rotation, prioritizing left-handedness. I’m not of the opinion that acquiring one right-handed pitcher, no matter how good he turns out to be, would  turn the Yankees pitching staff into an instant World Series favorite.

While Yankees fans are presently in various states of euphoria that general manager Brian Cashman was able to land Juan Soto in what was one of the biggest splashes made so far in this young offseason, the reality is that the Yankees dealt away a good chunk of their rotation depth by moving Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez, and top prospect Drew Thorpe to the Padres in the Soto trade. 

Gerrit Cole is the de facto ace of a Yankees rotation includes Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt, with the fifth spot in the rotation now being a question mark.  The jury also happens to be presently out on whether or not Carlos Rodon can be effective in the rugged American League East and personally, I’m not even convinced he's even got what it takes to pitch in New York after watching him this past season. Rodon also has a full no trade clause that makes it a little bit more complicated if the Yankees were to move on from him.

That said, Rodon may not have enjoyed being booed last season after his bevy of disastrous starts and he might be willing to accept a trade to a smaller market team where his every action wouldn’t be under the kind of microscope that pitching in the Bronx entails.  I’d like to see the Yankees deal Rodon and I’ve written very recently about one possible landing spot being with the Angels as Rodon could be used as part of a blockbuster trade that involves a number of other big names who might also have to waive their no trade clauses to ignite the deal.

If the Yankees fail to land Yamamoto, I think they should attempt to trade Rodon and make significant pushes to sign Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell both. Snell is a two-time Cy Young award winner and aside from walking too many people, he pretty much dominates opposing lineups. Meanwhile, Monty is just the type of crafty lefty that the Yankees rotation needs. With a stronger, revamped bullpen to support the Yankees rotation, the Yankees could easily live with Snell and Monty being a part of a rotation that would be nothing short of ominous to opposing teams in the postseason.

For those that complain about Snell not lasting beyond 5-plus innings in most starts, I would staunchly counter their viewpoints by pointing out all of his StatCast metrics that clearly show he’s one of the best pitchers in the sport. The truth is, he is an extremely difficult matchup for opposing hitters and he often goes deep into counts, demonstrating a total willingness to walk and subsequently strand opposing base runners.

Snell’s left-on-base percentage was a ridiculous 86.7 percent last season and folks, that’s off the charts. Who cares if he walks more batters than many other pitchers do? He gets the next man up out at a rate few pitchers in the game can match. Opposing batters hit .180 against Snell last year. I’ll sign up for that in the blink of an eye. 

There’s a lot of blog related buzz circulating that the Yankees are eyeing a possible signing of fellow Japanese star lefty Shota Imanaga, who could also  bolster the rotation for 2024 and beyond. In this writer’s opinion, Snell and Montgomery are far better, more proven and thus, more reliable alternatives.   Signing two top pitchers will cost nothing but money, whereas trading for top talent will further scuttle an already vastly depleted Yankees farm system.

While it’s true that top trade options may exist, such as Corbin Burnes ($33.8 MTV per Baseball Trade Values) or Dylan Cease ($40.4 MTV), but I don’t believe the Yankees farm system is in a position to land either, seeing as how its most valuable trade asset (Mike King, $33.4 MTV) has already been dealt.