Rays Talking Extension with Blake Snell

The Rays are in the early stages of talks with the team's top prospect, and the one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in the game, Blake Snell. Nothing appears imminent.

The Rays, and every other team in baseball, love to lock up young talent early, but there has only been one case of a player being signed to an extension before reaching the majors, and that was Jonathan Singleton with the Astros just a few year ago.

With quality pitching fetching a premium price, and also considering the rate at which pitchers are suffering injuries, an extension would be smart for both sides, providing the Rays with a few extra years of Snell and providing Snell with a security blanket in case something drastic should happen.

Again, the talks are preliminary, but that all could change by opening day. At any rate, the Rays pitching pipeline is as strong as ever.

For a lot more on Snell, Bradley covered his breakout campaign in 2015 just last week.

Rays are discussing a long-term deal with Blake Snell, as @TBTimes_Rays reported. Snell has not yet made his ML debut.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) February 22, 2016

Source: Talks between Snell and the Rays have been preliminary, and no deal appears close.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) February 22, 2016