The rich get richer. According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, The Los Angeles Dodgers and top pitching free agent Blake Snell are in agreement on a five-year, $182 million contract, pending a physical.
The contract does include a $52 million signing bonus and some deferred money, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.
Snell actually broke the news himself by posting a picture on Instagram of him in a Dodgers jersey with the caption, “LA.”
There are multiple links between Snell and the Dodgers. Dodgers president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman drafted and developed Snell when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays front office.
Tyler Glasnow pitched alongside Snell for three seasons with the Rays, including the 2020 World Series, where they faced the Dodgers.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner is coming off a year with the San Francisco Giants that started off pretty rocky. He didn’t sign with the team until the last week of spring training, and it showed.
Through his first six games of the season, he had a 9.51 ERA and failed to pitch past the fifth inning in any of his starts. He would go on the injured list with a groin ailment that kept him out for a month.
After he came back from the IL, Snell returned to his dominant self. Over his last 14 starts of the season, he had a 1.23 ERA and struck out 114 batters. He gave up only 14 home runs in that span.
Snell also threw his first career no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.
Snell will undoubtedly add stability to a 2025 Dodgers rotation that will see many pitchers returning from injury.
Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and others are expected to return some time next season.
