The Los Angeles Dodgers have reportedly agreed to a $182 million contract with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, according to multiple outlets, including The Athletic and the Associated Press.
The five-year deal, which reportedly includes a $52 million signing bonus and around $60 million in deferred salary, comes after the Dodgers won the World Series in October despite having only three healthy starting pitchers when they entered the offseason.
With 2023 additions Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow missing long stretches due to injury and 2024 NL MVP Shohei Ohtani not throwing a single pitch while recovering from Tommy John surgery, the arrival of Snell represents a significant boost to a pitching staff which had to rely on its bullpen too often in 2024.
The 31-year-old, who posted a photoshopped image of himself in a Dodgers jersey on Instagram on Tuesday night, is 76-58 with an ERA of 3.19 across nine seasons and 211 starts in the MLB. His average of 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest ever recorded in major league history.
Snell is also one of only seven pitchers to have won the Cy Young Award in both the American League and National League, having collected the award in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays and in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers reportedly made a move for Snell following his success in San Diego, but the Seattle native eventually ended up with the San Francisco Giants in mid-March of 2024.
Snell endured a difficult start to the season having missed most of spring training but found a hot streak, going 5-0 with an ERA of 1.23 in his last 14 starts, which included a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in early August.
The deal – which is pending a physical, according to the AP – represents another huge financial outlay for the Dodgers after they spent $1.2 billion last offseason on Ohtani, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Teoscar Hernández.
Los Angeles has given out five contracts worth $100 million or more since the start of the 2023-24 offseason – as many as the rest of the MLB combined – and is the favorite to win the 2025 World Series.
No franchise has won consecutive Commissioner’s Trophies since the New York Yankees picked up three in a row between 1998 and 2000.
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