Tampa Bay Rays show Blake Snell the money

The Tampa Bay Rays extended Blake Snell on Thursday after a drama filled offseason

The amount of money the Tampa Bay Rays were going to pay their 26 year old southpaw has been a hot button topic around baseball circles.

Some, have defended the Tampa Bay Rays 15 thousand dollar pay raise to the ends of the earth, while others have ripped the Rays to absolute shreds carrying on the narrative of the Rays not keeping stars and being cheap.

I have always fallen right in the middle. Was it a good look to outsiders that you only bump up a CY Young award winners pay five thousand dollars, as ten thousand is the minimum you have to increase players? No, that is not a good look.

Is it within the rules? Yes. Does it mean the organization is cheap? No, look at the Astros. They slow played Alex Bregman with a slight raise that caused him to be disgruntled before shelling out 100 million to the electric third basemen.

Was Blake Snell disappointed by the pay bump? Absolutely. He outwardly said he was disappointed, but noted he accepts that it is a business.

The 15 thousand dollar pay increase was a great business decision for any team, no matter if you have the money or not. if you can get away with paying a great player less, in which boosting his value, you do it.

However, this move is also great.

The Tampa Bay Rays inked Blake Snell to a five year deal with 50 million dollars. This deal carries through Snell’s arbitration season, and also a year into his free agency.

in fact, even this deal is valuable, on many fronts.

Blake Snell has only had one very good year in the big leagues, he finally broke out and put it all together, winning the CY Young award a year ago. What if that was a fluke, though? Now, no one thinks it is, in fact, I think he has a shot at going back-to-back for the award, but just play with him in these situations.

For his sake, if he does fall off, or even just revert back to his two years prior to the CY Young season where he was not awful, but was serviceable he will have his money locked up. The same way it is valuable for him to take this money now in case of injuries.  Look at his own rotation. Two top prospects are currently dealing with injuries that otherwise would be in the big leagues.

I know we are all still high on his CY Young season, myself included, but there is a chance he regresses. I mean, he was otherworldly a year ago. As people, we all love insurance. I do think there is a great chance Snell outperforms this contract, but injuries and regression is a reason for him to ink the deal now instead of waiting for a possible bigger payday.

For the Rays, they at least get Snell for a year longer than they otherwise would have. If Snell does get hurt (knock on wood) or regresses, this is not a back-breaking number.

At 50 million dollars for your ace, the Tampa Bay Rays also still have enough wiggle room to lock up their other young pieces. Like a Willy Adames.

And, while I do not foresee them trading him, because this five year window perfectly aligns with the Rays young talent coming through the pipeline and thriving at the big league level, this 50 million dollar number will be easy to move, and so affordable that it even could net the Tampa Bay Rays an even bigger package. But again, I do not see them ever trading Snell on this current deal unless something goes terribly wrong.

And by the way, I predicted this after the Lowe contract extension.

What do you think of this Blake Snell deal? Let us know in the comments, and on Twitter!