The Los Angeles Dodgers did it again. Late on Tuesday, when most people were sleeping or about to do that on the East Coast, they revealed their first stellar signing of the off-season: left-hander Blake Snell will be joining them on a five-year, $182 million pact.
Snell lost millions by taking too long to sign in the last off-season. This time, he wanted to secure his bag quickly enough if possible, and the Dodgers were there to capitalize on his wish.
As it has happened several times in recent campaigns, most notably with Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers found a way to soften the financial and luxury tax hits associated with a $182 million signing. Creativity, after all, is the Dodgers’ calling card perhaps even more so than money.
The Dodgers worked their magic again with Blake Snell’s contract
Dodgers insider Alden Gonzalez reported the details of Snell’s contract, revealing the pitcher received a $52 million signing bonus with a limited no-trade clause, no opt-outs, and some deferred money.
Spotrac later informed on X that $62 million on Snell’s contract will be deferred in future installments, giving the Dodgers flexibility should they look to pursue another top target.
“With $62M of his 5-year, $182M contract deferred, Blake Snell stands to account for an estimated $32.5M against the Dodgers tax payroll for the next 5 seasons,” Spotrac wrote. They also reported that the Dodgers project toward a league-high $304 million tax payroll for 2025 but are not yet done spending.
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On the field, Snell remains very much an ace, with a 3.12 ERA for the 2024 campaign and a 1.45 ERA in the second half once he got up to speed.
The Snell signing makes it much harder for the Dodgers to seriously pursue Juan Soto now, but they were never really serious threats and they now brought in a true top-of-the-rotation talent to join one of the best staffs in the history of the game.
Now, the Dodgers project to have Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Snell as their top four in some order. It’s hard to compete with that in a short postseason series.