Blake Snell on winning second Cy Young award: ‘Being able to win another one is a pretty amazing thing'
Boston is in need of premium starting pitching, Snell makes sense, but so does another lefty that’s on the market
San Diego Padres’ free agent left-hander Blake Snell won his second career Cy Young award last week.
Snell had a dominant season for the Padres, he went 14-9 with an MLB-leading 2.25 ERA and 180 innings pitched in 2023.
"It feels amazing," Snell said to reporters after he won. "It definitely feels good and I'm trying to enjoy this more than the first one I won."
The 30-year-old received 28 first-place votes and two second-place votes. San Francisco’s Logan Webb was second, and Arizona’s Zac Gallen finished third.
“It means the work I’m putting in is paying off, it’s working,” Snell said. “Being able to win another one is a pretty amazing thing.”
Snell is going to be one of the most sought after free agent hurlers on the free agent market this winter. The Red Sox are in need of at least two starting pitchers and the left-hander is reportedly on their list of options.
“Fortunately there are a lot of very good pitchers on the market,” said MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. “That is the one category where there is a lot of talent out there, but I think there are about eight teams looking for multiple starting pitchers.”
Other established starters like Sonny Gray, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery and many more are available. All of those free agents should be connected to the Red Sox this winter.
“We’ve never seen this before,” Heyman said on the number of teams interested in adding more than one starter. “These pitchers are in a very good situation.”
Heyman cited the Cardinals, Mets, Dodgers, Angels, Pirates, Cubs, Giants and the Red Sox.
“Boston obviously, another team that needs pitching,” he said.
MLB.com's Ian Browne chatted on the ITM Podcast and indicated Boston likes Montgomery more so than Snell.
"From what I've heard, (the Red Sox) like Montgomery more than they like (Blake) Snell, they like him more than they like (Aaron) Nola," said Browne on the podcast to both Steve Perrault and Joey Copponi. "I think they just feel like he's the guy that they are really targeting. He might be a little more undervalued, although he did, obviously, boost his value in the playoffs, kind of like Derek Lowe in 2004 style."
Montgomery had a strong season that was split between the Cardinals and Rangers. He was traded to Texas at the MLB trade deadline and ultimately helped lead the Rangers to their first World Series title. The southpaw seems likely to be the cheaper of the two starters if the Red Sox are hesitant on Snell.
"I heard that Montgomery is the pitcher they really like out of the American pitchers," Browne reiterated. "They've been coy about what they want to do with (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto because he hasn't even been posted. He's not a free agent yet but I know that he's at the top of their list too. I really think they're going to come away with one of those two guys."
Signing Snell won’t come cheap but the combination of his production, leadership and experience playing for both the Rays and Padres, he could bolster Boston’s current below average rotation.
"I haven't thought about free agency at all, one time," Snell said. "So I've just been really focused on this day, winning this award in front of my friends and family. From here forward, I'll be thinking about free agency a lot more. Obviously, that's next now."
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