The Tampa Bay Rays and Blake Snell have agreed to a five year, $50 million contract extension, per multiple reports. Snell, a 26 year old lefthanded starting pitcher, won the American League Cy Young Award last season, but with just over 2 years of service time, he did not qualify for arbitration, and was slated to make just $574,000 in 2019.
This deal reportedly has no team options, so it is just a straight buyout of three arbitration years and one free agent year. Snell will now be under team control through the 2023 season, allowing him to hit the free agent market after his age 30 season.