Dodgers Sign Ace Starter Blake Snell To Five-Year, $182 Million Deal

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell Tuesday, acquiring the ace in a five-year, $182 million deal. Snell will join Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a recovering Shohei Ohtani in yet another stacked Dodgers rotation. 

Snell’s new contract will include a massive $52 million signing bonus and deferred payments, a move popularized by the Dodgers last season when they signed Ohtani with a $700 million contract. Los Angeles has already compiled nearly $1 million in deferred payments, a risk they are willing to take later on in order to contend for championships now.

In his only season with the Giants in 2024, Snell struggled to get his feet under him early on after signing a two-year deal with the team in mid-March. He eventually performed solidly in a limited capacity, but the Giants were already well out of playoff contention by the time he did most of his work on the mound. Finishing the season with a 3.15 ERA in 20 starts, Snell opted out of his two-year, $62 million deal with the team to pursue a long-term contract.

The Dodgers’ early move will help set the market for other free agent pitchers this off-season, with major names like Roki Sasaki and Corbin Burnes still unsigned. Snell is also represented by agent Scott Boras, who also represents the likes of Juan Soto, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, notable sluggers looking for massive deals of their own. In many ways, Snell’s signing will kickstart the rest of these negotiations and provide an update baseline on the current market.

After last off-season, in which the Dodgers signed Ohtani and Yamamoto, and went on to win the World Series, some have begun to observe that Los Angeles are taking aggressive steps to ‘buy’ championships. While it is true that the Dodgers overwhelmed many opponents this year through sheer roster quality, the team is merely one of a select few represented by immensely wealthy ownership groups. 

These heavy-spending teams, including key culprits like the Mets and Yankees, can afford to play a different game than those in smaller markets and are competing at a different level. Big money and splashy free agent signings don’t always translate to World Series success, especially in recent years, but the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets, all appeared in championship series last season. With Snell’s signing, the Dodgers have already ensured that they will be a heavy favorite to return to the postseason in 2025.