New York Yankees’ Blake Snell Interest Grows, as Bombers Back Out of Japanese Ace Deal

The New York Yankees are jumping from place to place to find their perfect pitcher. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was their safety net but after he chose someone else, the Pinstripes started scrambling. Jordan Montgomery and Shota Imanaga were reportedly their primary targets. But now it looks like the Yankees have cooled down on Imanaga, with growing interest in Blake Snell.

Even though Blake Snell and the Yankees haven’t been linked too often this offseason, things could be changing soon. A top insider thinks that a Snell-Yankee partnership makes perfect sense and he might be right.

New York Yankees cool down on Imanaga while Blake Snell catches their eye

Topi Insider Jon Heyman has revealed two extremely important things about the Yankees’ offseason. First is that they could be going out of the Imanaga race and another is that the New York Yankees might have started fancying Blake Snell. Though the latter looks a little doubtful there are reasons to believe that things could change quickly here.

In the case of Imanaga, the Pinstripes have found a big hole in Imanaga’s armor – his tendency to be a flyball pitcher. Even though the Samurai Japan ace’s left arm could benefit the Yankees, the team finds his high flyball rate disturbing. Especially as this tendency could prove to be highly detrimental at Yankee Stadium. This realization has led them to the Snell race.

“Snell gives them the chance to possess inarguably the best one-two pitching combo in baseball. Gerrit Cole, a good judge of talent, is reportedly all for it.” Jon Heyman wrote in the New York Post. Snell already has experience pitching in the AL East – he won his first Cy Young award playing for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018.

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As superagent Scott Boras repeatedly says, Snell is a unique player. He has won the Cy Young award in both NL and AL. Also, with growing talks of a short-term contract – Snell could prove to be a low-risk signing for the Yankees. Still, the Bombers seem hesitant in committing fully to Snell due to his record as well as the Yankees’ recent free agency woes.

The Bombers’ ever-growing fear

Since the disappointing signing of Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees are applying due diligence in free-agent targets. Even then, apart from Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge, most of the current big contracted players have failed to live up to their hype. A $162 million Carlos Rodon flopped badly last year. So did most of the Yankees’ expensive lineup.

As a result, the Bronx Bombers are extra cautious this year. Even though Snell has had a great season, his underlying stats aren’t as good as his performance. Also, his durability is still questionable. So even if the Yankees are interested in the pitcher, there are still ways to go before this interest gets some firm shape.

Read more: Bronx Bombers Biding Time? No Yankees Dollars Spent Yet Fuels Murmur of Blake Snell Deal Materializing