Yankees Must Consider Paying Up for Blake Snell After Missing on Dylan Cease

When the 2024 season started to look up with the roster Brian Cashman and company conducted in the offseason, the injury bug wasted no time taking out players. When it comes to bolstering the rotation, the Yankees just have the worst luck finding the right help.

The Sonny Gray experiment didn't work out. Frankie Montas didn't pan out. So far it looks like Carlos Rondon is going in the same direction. 

Just this past offseason they saw Shohei Ohtani walk down the street to the Dodgers. They desperately tried to get the most hyped pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he decided to also sign with the Dodgers. They were linked to pitchers like Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, and Dylan Cease. 

In January, the Orioles made a surprising trade that sent Corbin Burnes to Baltimore. The Yankees offered two offers to Blake Snell, but none has been accepted. Just recently, the Padres snuck in and traded for Dylan Cease, while sending Drew Thorpe (former Yankee prospect traded to SD as part of the Soto deal) to Chicago. 

Now that Gerrit Cole is shut down for one to two months, and three of the potential starters were traded to San Diego, the rotation will start being unreliable.

Currently, the group includes Carlos Rondon, Marcus Stroman, Nestor Cortes, and Clarke Schmidt. Not having an ace makes the start of the season look disappointing. It suggests that the Yankees should have tried harder to get a pitcher or they should do whatever it takes to get Snell. 

It has been quite known the Yankees were interested in the former Rays pitcher. They made an offer that was not accepted, but they would make another offer that has not been accepted either. As of recently, the Yankees have made it a priority to not spend big, but without Cole should they spend on Snell?

Snell who is a two-time Cy Young winner, would expect to ask for a decent amount, but would that be worth the temporary fix? Although Michael King, Randy Valzquez, and Johnny Brito are now Padre, the Yankees still have some pitchers they can rely on like Luis Gil and Clayton Beeter.

They can also rely on Luke Weaver until Gerrit Cole comes back. The Yankees minor league pitching isn’t as deep, but it can be reliable. If bolstering the rotation for the whole season is needed, other options in free agency are more consistent than paying Snell a lot of money. 

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