The Dodgers won the World Series last season in spite of their shorthanded pitching.
Next year, they hope a reinforced staff can be the key to defending their title.
To that end, the Dodgers made a major move Tuesday night, agreeing to a five-year, $182-million contract with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell pending a physical, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.
The deal, which includes a $52-million signing bonus and about $60 million in deferred salary, was first signaled Tuesday night by Snell, who posted to Instagram a photoshopped image of himself in a Dodgers jersey. The caption read “LA” with an eyeballs emoji.
Suddenly, a year after the Dodgers added frontline arms Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow for more than $1 billion, their latest addition was clear. Once again, they had flung their wallet wide open. Once again, they had made a blockbuster addition to their starting rotation.
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Snell, 31, has been one of the top left-handers in the game during his nine-year career. Though he has been an All-Star only once, the 6-foot-4 Seattle native won the American League Cy Young with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018, the National League Cy Young with the San Diego Padres in 2023, and has amassed a 3.19 earned-run average and 1,368 strikeouts over 211 career starts.
Originally drafted in the first round by Tampa Bay in 2011 — when Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, was running the Rays’ front office — Snell has flashed some of the majors’ best stuff in the last decade.
He pairs his mid-90s fastball with a curveball, changeup and slider — all three of which registered whiff rates of 44% or higher last season. He has averaged 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings in his career, the highest mark in major league history.
And he has a track record of postseason success, with a 3.33 ERA in 12 career playoff appearances.
Durability and consistency have been issues. Snell has pitched more than 130 innings only twice, eclipsing 180 in each of his two Cy Young seasons.
And while he has posted a sub-3.40 ERA in a season five times, he also has suffered ERAs above 4.00 three times.
Still, when Snell is right, there are few better pitchers in the game.
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And even though the Dodgers managed to piece together just enough on the mound in October to win a championship, they entered this offseason hoping to shore up their staff with an established, high-caliber arm exactly like him.
The Dodgers made a play for Snell late in his free agency last offseason, when his market failed to materialize as expected coming off his Cy Young in San Diego.
However, the Giants ultimately landed his services with a two-year, $62-million deal that included an opt-out this winter, which Snell exercised.
Snell’s season didn’t begin well. He missed most of spring training after signing in mid-March. He had 9.51 ERA at the end of June, having made only six starts in the first three months because of multiple stints on the injured list. At one point, he seemed likely to exercise his 2025 option and try to rebuild his stock this coming year.
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But then, Snell went on a tear during the second half, going 5-0 with an 1.23 ERA over his final 14 outings — including a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.
That run reestablished Snell as one of the top arms on the market, alongside Corbin Burnes and Max Fried. And it led to a signing Tuesday that, given the Dodgers’ flirtation with Snell last offseason, felt like a long time coming, even though the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees reportedly were making a push for Snell before he agreed with the Dodgers.
The Dodgers hoped they had solved their pitching issues with their offseason additions last year, when they signed Yamamoto to a record $325-million contract and traded for Glasnow and signed him to a $136.5-million extension. Ohtani was unable to pitch this past season while recovering from a revision to his Tommy John surgery but projected to join the 2025 rotation.
During the season, though, Yamamoto missed several months because of a shoulder injury and Glasnow was lost late in the year to an elbow injury as the rotation crumbled, leaving the team with just three healthy starters — including trade-deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty — entering the playoffs.
Thanks to a deep bullpen and potent lineup, it still was enough to win the World Series.
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But as the team looked ahead to next year, when it is expected to use a six-man rotation as Ohtani resumes pitching, adding another starter became a clear need.
And Snell became the club’s most obvious target.
The Dodgers still could add more pitching this winter. Flaherty and Walker Buehler remain free agents and have voiced their desire to stay with the team. Japanese star Roki Sasaki is expected to sign with an MLB team in January, with the Dodgers seen as a likely landing spot for the 23-year-old flamethrower.
But as it stands, the Dodgers will have Ohtani, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Snell headlining their rotation. They will have Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw (who still is expected to re-sign) serving as depth.
And they should have a greater margin for error in case more injuries arise, after making Snell the latest nine-figure pitching acquisition to their increasingly star-studded staff.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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