Giants' Blake Snell strikes out 15 as trade rumors swirl about reigning Cy Young winner

Blake Snell won the NL Cy Young in 2023, the second such honor of his career after winning the AL Cy Young in 2018. In between, he flashed plenty of inconsistency and that's the way this season has gone too. Due to a late start after his free agency dragged well into spring training, in addition to a stint on the injured list, Saturday afternoon's game in San Francisco was only Snell's 10th of the year.

He was stellar. The Cy Young version of Snell. He only allowed two hits in six scoreless innings while striking out 15 against the Rockies.

Not only is it a career high for Snell, but it's the highest strikeout total for any pitcher this season. It is one shy of the Giants franchise record, as Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson had a 16-strikeout game in 1904 and Jason Schmidt did so in 2006. The last time a Giants pitcher fanned 15 was 2009, when Tim Lincecum pulled it off during his second Cy Young season.

Bigger picture here, though, is Snell looked like an ace just when trade rumors are starting to include him. He signed a one-year, $32 million deal with a player option for next season late in the spring. The feeling here is he'll decline his player option and become a free agent again, making him a rental player. Plenty of teams could use a frontline starting pitcher and Snell sure looked the part on Saturday. The Giants, meanwhile, are 50-55 and 12 games back in the NL West, with the wild-card race passing them as well.

In fact, Snell has been really locked in since returning from his groin injury. He came off the IL for a start on July 9 and in his four starts since being activated he's allowed only two earned runs in 24 innings (0.75 ERA) with 30 strikeouts.

Among the teams looking for starting pitching are the Dodgers (though it seems unlikely the Giants would help their bitter rivals) and Orioles , but certainly other teams would be interested ( Mets ? A Padres reunion?) in grabbing Snell for the final two months of the season along with, maybe, the playoffs.