Yankees, Padres among the teams interested in SF Giants lefty ace

As of Friday, there were at least five teams interested in SF Giants lefty Blake Snell. On Sunday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post added context to that rumor by reporting that the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres are among the teams in the mix.

Yankees, Padres among the teams interested in SF Giants lefty ace

Snell added to his trade value on Saturday after he put together an impressive outing where he completed six scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts and only two walks in a 5-0 victory. Despite having a 5.10 ERA in 10 starts, the veteran pitcher has been better lately.

In his last four outings, Snell has allowed just two earned runs with 30 strikeouts and seven walks across 24 innings. This is the pitcher that the Giants hoped they would get when he signed with them at the end of spring training.

If Snell is available, he would become the top name on the market and should merit a nice return. However, he does have an opt-out after the first season, so that creates a roadblock for prospective teams. Are they trading for a rental? Are they trading for someone who will be under control through the 2025 season?

That quality is tough to predict. With how he has been pitching lately, it is tough to envision a scenario where he does not opt out of the one year and $30 million remaining on his deal. Snell should be able to get much more than that in free agency. Plus, he will not have a qualifying offer attached to his name this time around.

The Yankees and Padres are the type of teams the Giants want in the mix. Of course, the pressure is always on the Yankees to compete and acquire any player who could help them down the stretch. They are in second place in a tough AL West with a 61-45 record, but they have struggled to a 7-13 record in July.

On the other hand, the Padres are interested in Snell as well. A.J. Preller is one of the more aggressive executives in baseball and when he targets a player, he will generally outbid any other team. The Giants could use this as leverage or consider working out a rare, inter-division trade.

Of course, San Diego knows the 31-year-old pitcher well as he spent the previous three seasons with a Padres uniform.

The addition of Snell would change the dynamic of any rotation and would become a formidable ace in a playoff series. That said, with how the Giants rotation has looked over the past week, the team could hold on to the lefty pitcher with the hopes of going on a run of their own.