Blake Snell Rumors: Insider believes 2x Cy Young winner expects an AAV 'north of $30 million' after Yoshinobu Yamamoto deal

Blake Snell is coming off an impressive NL Cy Young season with the San Diego Padres. It is the second Cy Young Award of his career but his first in the National League.

Snell started 32 games for the lackluster Padres last season. During that stretch, he went 14-9 with 234 strikeouts on 180 innings of work. He led the league with a 2.25 ERA and 5.8 hits per nine.

Snell is now the top-rated free-agent pitcher with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto off the board and would like to be paid as such. It has been reported that he is looking for an AAV north of $30 million.

"Blake Snell probably was looking for something north of $30 million a year" reports Mark Feinsand.

For reference, Yamamoto receives an AAV of over $28 million, and Snell wants to top that. That is quite the yearly salary, but only a few active pitchers have more Cy Young Awards to their name than Snell.

Blake Snell's stock could rise with teams starting to pivot after hearing that Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers. And as the best pitcher on the board, he has some leverage against teams.

Who is in on Blake Snell?

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The Los Angeles Angels have recently come out, making Blake Snell their top priority. While he is not Shohei Ohtani, the team could rely on him as their ace.

However, you will not see much if you look at the history of the Angels signing multiple-year deals for free-agent pitchers. They have only done it one time, and that was with Tyler Anderson last offseason.

Another team that has come out as a possible suitor for Snell is the San Francisco Giants. They recently signed Korean star Jung Hoo Lee and are looking to add a frontline starter.

Snell would look great alongside Logan Webb. Webb is coming off a season where he led the league in 216 innings pitched and compiled a 3.25 ERA. It was a good enough year that he received some Cy Young votes.

Both teams can handle the salary that Snell is asking for, but they will not be the only ones after Snell. A handful of teams will try their best to land the hard-throwing lefty.