Blake Snell’s first foray into MLB free agency was a protracted disaster. He’s probably happier with how the second go-around worked out.
The two-time Cy Young winner agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Snell didn’t have a qualifying offer this year after rejecting one last season, so his signing will not cost his new team a draft pick. The deal comes after an up-and-down season with the San Francisco Giants, but one that definitely ended with momentum on Snell’s side.
At the start of July, he held a 9.51 ERA through six starts and had missed significant time due to two trips to the injured list. And then, as he tends to do, Snell got better in the second half. After returning from the IL on July 9, he posted a 1.23 ERA across his final 14 starts with 114 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings. Batters hit .123/.211/.171 against him.
Thanks to that run, Snell entered this offseason as of this winter’s free agents. Snell wasted little time in finding a new home, and it’s hard to blame him, given how last offseason went. Now, he’ll get to join the reigning World Series champions.
Snell not only found a deal 112 days earlier than he did last offseason, he joined what could be an incredible rotation in Los Angeles.
Despite their success last year, the Dodgers entered the offseason with rotation as a clear need with Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler — two of their three real starting pitchers during their playoff run — entering free agency. Snell is a bigger name than either.
The Dodgers’ rotation for 2025, when healthy, now projects as something like Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw, assuming the latter follows through on his stated intent to re-sign with the team. Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Emmet Sheehan are also expected to return after missing all of 2024 with injuries.
It’s a formidable collection of pitching talent, but that “when healthy” qualifier is an enormous one for the Dodgers. Their last two playoff teams have seen them enter the postseason with a rotation held together by duct tape. Every single player listed above missed significant time with injuries last season, and the Dodgers are responding by looking for even more talent.
The frightening part is that the Dodgers probably aren’t done. Corbin Burnes and Max Fried might be a little steep now, but reunion with Buehler or Flaherty doesn’t seem out of the question. And, of course, there’s the looming possibility of Roki Sasaki joining them on an outrageously small deal.
Rewind to the start of the 2023-24 MLB offseason. Snell was named the winner of the 2023 NL Cy Young Award, making him one of 22 pitchers in the history of baseball to win the award multiple times. He also entered free agency for the first time in his career, with no shortage of suitors.
Snell expected a big contract, to the point that he turned down a six-year, $150 million offer from the New York Yankees. His agent, Scott Boras, is notorious for waiting out teams to get the best possible deal, but no such deal came.
By the time spring training rolled around, Snell didn’t have a team, nor did fellow Boras clients Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman or Jordan Montgomery. It was an embarrassing situation for the agent and his players, and it resulted in. In Snell’s case, he landed with the Giants on a two-year, $62 million contract with an opt-out after the first year, which he exercised.
For all of his talent, Snell had enough red flags that teams were apprehensive about promising him $200 million. He was an older free agent at 30 years old, for one, and his consistency and durability issues are well-known. He has thrown more than 130 innings in a season only twice, and he led MLB in walks in 2023.
This most recent season didn’t do much to change the narratives around Snell, as he was awful and injured, then Cy Young-worthy. But good things sometimes come to those who don’t wait.