Yankees were reportedly willing to go higher than initial offer in Blake Snell talks

It still seems extremely unlikely that the Yankees and Blake Snell will find a soft place to land, especially after Jack Curry's weekend bombshell, mid-spring training broadcast. But, perhaps, if Snell's camp (Scott Boras) had been a little more patient in the early going, they might've found some common ground with Brian Cashman months ago.

Instead of settling in pinstripes, Snell's free agency rambles on, as the lefty's camp eyesSan Francisco Giants injury updates with less than a month to go before Opening Day. Jon Heyman noted that the two sides did speak again on Monday, but that precious little progress was made. That seems par for the course.

Or, as Yankees insider Erik Boland succinctly put it:

Yankees Rumors: NYY were initially willing to increase offer to Blake Snell?

For the record, our Thursday Guess: Maybe.

Our Sunday Guess: No chance.

Our Wednesday Guess: Still leaning hard no, but there was a window in January.

As Mark Feinsand noted in his Tuesday column, the Yankees reportedly were willing to extend their offer to six years and $28 million annually back in January. Given the luxury tax implications of a short-term, high-AAV deal, and the fact that they weren't considering such things to begin with, that variety of marriage seems extremely unlikely.

Perhaps that's why Cashman pushed back during his appearance on Talkin' Yanks about the exact details of the publicly known Snell offer, indicating that the "specificity" of the supposed five-year, $150 million deal might've been off a bit. Maybe the Yankees had, instead, started with $28 million over five years ($140 million), then had internal conversations about extending themselves to sixth year?

It doesn't seem like those conversations ever manifested in public, though, as either Snell or Boras shut the Yankees' overtures down swiftly. Now, he's got Juan Soto, his own client, working overtime to advocate for a fit that might've died on the table months ago. The Yankees are doing Boras a favor -- ahead of Soto's own free agency -- by pushing back as gently as they can and allowing these sales tactics to persist.

At this moment, it all seems to be an empty gesture, and following the signing of Marcus Stroman in early January, the semantics of a Snell offer that was never formally rescinded, but no longer exists, seem irrelevant.