ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On the eve of Major League Baseball's Opening Day, the Tampa Bay Rays should be psyched pitcher Blake Snell is under contract through the 2023 season.
The 26-year-old Cy Young winner signed a five-year contract worth $50 million earlier this month.
Yes, it’s the largest contract in MLB history awarded to a pitcher before reaching arbitration. Plus, Snell is due to make substantially more money than his $558,200 salary last season.
However, it’s a one-sided deal for the left-handed pitcher because it doesn’t come close to his true worth on the free agent market. The MLB statistics and analytics website FanGraphs estimated Snell was worth $38.3 million for his 2018 performance.
Keep an eye on FanGraph’s measure of Snell’s performance for the 2019 season. We'll see if it surpasses the average of $10 million per year he's due during the next five seasons. Snell won’t become an unrestricted free agent until 2024 when he’s 31 years old.
It's a bargain for the Rays.
Perhaps Snell’s agents, Adam Karon and Tripper Johnson of Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon, saw how the $9.6 million increase awarded to fellow Cy Young winner and New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom was the largest raise in MLB arbitration history.
It’s possible if Snell had played through the 2019 season on his old contract, he could have eclipsed deGrom’s arbitration record and made even more money. The move would have been high-risk, high reward. Ultimately, we'll never know how much Snell could have earned had he chosen to go the arbitration route.
How does the MLB salary arbitration process work? Click or tap here
10News reached out to Cobbe & Karon for comment but did not hear back.
Snell said earlier this month "he's happy to be here" and "he doesn't want to go anywhere," but everyone has a price, especially when he's making pennies and nickles on the dollar compared to other star pitchers like:
• Chris Sale's five-year contract extension worth $145 million with the Boston Red Sox. It's worth an average of $29 million per season.
• Justin Verlander's two-year contract extension worth $66 million with the Houston Astros. It's worth an average of $33 million per season.
• Jacob deGrom's five-year contract extension worth $137 million with the New York Mets. It's worth an average of $27.4 million per season.
Remember, Snell went 21-5 in 2018 with an AL-leading 1.89 ERA over 31 starts. He’s drastically underpaid compared to other Cy Young award winners in recent years.
Snell wasn’t eligible for arbitration this offseason because he hasn’t accrued enough service during the previous two seasons. He has accrued 2 years and 72 days of service. This year’s cutoff was 2 years, 134 days.
Before agreeing to the five-year deal, the Rays initially awarded Snell a minuscule raise of $15,500, and he was due to make only $573,700 this year.
Here’s to hoping Snell can stay healthy and remain productive so one day he can earn what he’s worth on an open market as an unrestricted free agent.
Note: Information from the Associated Press contributed to this story.
2019: $4 million
2020: $7 million
2021: $10.5 million
2022: $12.5 million
2023: $16 million
2024: Due to become an unrestricted free agent
MLB Opening Day: Rays host Astros at Tropicana Field
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Mark Bergin is a journalist with 10News WTSP. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter andInstagram. You can also email him at mbergin@wtsp.com.
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