For the Dodgers, signing Blake Snell always made the most sense
It always made sense.
The Los Angeles Dodgers club leadership has been fascinated with Blake Snell ever since president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spent one of the Tampa Bay Rays’ ten first-round picks in the 2011 MLB Draft on him, and has tried to add him several times in the over time. the past few seasons as he toured the rest of the NL West. The Dodgers tried to make a move for him late last winter, with their splashy offseason having already surpassed the billion-dollar mark. They showed interest in him at the trade deadline, even though prying him away from the San Francisco Giants would have created a conspiracy for fans of the historic rivals.
This time they landed him. The Dodgers have agreed to terms with the two-time Cy Young winner on a five-year contract worth $182 million, league sources confirmed. The Athletics on Tuesday evening. It includes “a portion of” deferred money and has no opt-outs, a league source said.
Snell’s deal includes a $52 million signing bonus, a league source confirmed. The signing bonus essentially ensures that the current value of the deal is still high even with the postponement – so while the average annual value is $36.4 million, the figure for the Dodgers’ competitive balance sheet tax calculation is expected to be around the 32 to 33 million dollars will be.
The Dodgers were expected to be players in the pitching market from the start this season. Their appearance in the World Series last October came despite a costly rotation that was curtailed by injury by the time the postseason arrived. Shohei Ohtani’s return from a second major elbow ligament reconstruction added one option, but it also forces the Dodgers into a six-man rotation to accommodate the regular schedules of him and $325 million man Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The off-the-field riches brought in by Japan’s baseball and business markets allowed the Dodgers to once again play in the deepest waters of free agency, putting Los Angeles at the top of a pitching-rich market led by by Snell, Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
Blake Snell joins a rotation that also includes Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a returning Shohei Ohtani. (Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
Burnes would have been a good fit for the Dodgers, as the 2021 NL Cy Young winner has emerged as one of the steadiest top starters in the sport. Since that Cy Young winning campaign was panned for its low innings total for a winner, he has logged at least 190 innings in every season since. Whatever gradual dip the 30-year-old has seen in the top flight or strikeout rate has been drowned out by consistent production. By winter’s end, Burnes — who, like Snell, is a Scott Boras client — could very well earn the richest pitching contract of the season.
Fried and the Dodgers also make sense. After all, the left-hander grew up in the region. Most importantly, he has shown a knack for consistent elite production without elite swing-and-miss numbers for years in Atlanta. Much like the Dodgers’ brief pursuit of Aaron Nola last winter, he may be a guy who can provide volume and benefit from the club’s pitching development. He, like Burnes, is also only 30 years old, a year younger than Snell, but may be more willing to demand more years and total dollars.
However, neither seemingly fits the Dodgers like Snell. He was a better fit with the Dodgers than the Boston Red Sox, the other team he met early in his second go-around in free agency. The Athletics Ken Rosenthal first reported. The same goes for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees, two other teams reportedly linked to Snell.
The Dodgers appreciate what Snell excels at. The southpaw possesses some of the most dominant stuff of any starter in baseball — things that clearly looked no less a year ago, when all three of his off-speed offerings (curveball, changeup, slider) had swing-and-absence rates. of more than 40 percent. All that came with a fastball that still exists in the mid-nineties. Valuing the top-end ‘band’ of results is what the Dodgers have long emphasized when acquiring pitching, whether in their pursuit of Snell’s former teammate Tyler Glasnow last season, or their hopes of acquiring Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki to land when placed.
Snell offers the highest performance shown by a starting pitcher in each of the past two seasons. Two years ago with the San Diego Padres, Snell was hit hard for six runs against the Red Sox, dropping his record to 1-6 and raising his ERA to 5.40. Over his next 23 starts, he had a 1.20 ERA, going at least six innings in 17 of them, and finished his season with a Cy Young award. A year ago, he signed late with San Francisco and had a 9.51 ERA by the time he hit the injured list in June — only to have a 1.23 ERA in 14 starts after his return, a period that also included a no hitter.
That’s what the Dodgers are betting on, just as they did by giving Yamamoto the richest pitching contract ever and by giving Glasnow five years and $136.5 million, despite the right-hander never making more than 20 starts in a season. In a rotation that has been building upward while recognizing the serious questions surrounding Ohtani, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, each of whom is coming off major elbow surgery, Snell gives Los Angeles another top option.
With Bobby Miller coming off a disastrous season and two-thirds of their World Series rotation still on the open market with Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler, Snell is giving the Dodgers a splash. If all goes well, the Dodgers will have a stacked group lined up and healthy for October. If a rash of injuries derails the Dodgers’ best-laid plans, they have another elite option in the mix.
And with work to do this winter, the Dodgers’ focus is still on the corner outfield and a possible reunion with Teoscar Hernández to build some of their title-winning roster (such as Kiké Hernández, Buehler, Flaherty and Blake Treinen). strengthen. ) – it’s a giant box that was checked before Thanksgiving.
(Photo: John Hefti / USA Today)
