Sources: Champ Dodgers strike early, add Snell
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Jorge Castillo
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Jorge Castillo
ESPN Staff Writer
- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
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Jeff Passan
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Jeff Passan
ESPN
- ESPN MLB insider
Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
Free-agent left-hander Blake Snell and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract, sources told ESPN on Tuesday night.
The deal, which is pending a physical, includes no opt-outs, some deferred money and a $52 million signing bonus, sources said.
For the Dodgers, Snell gives the World Series champions a frontline starter for their title defense next season after they survived October by depending heavily on their bullpen with just three healthy starters. For Snell, the pact marks a much quicker and satisfying conclusion to his second stint as a free agent.
The $182 million contract is the third largest for a left-handed pitcher in major league history based on total value, behind only David Price‘s with the Boston Red Sox in 2015 ($217 million) and Clayton Kershaw‘s with the Dodgers in 2014 ($215M).
And for the Dodgers, it’s another massive deal for a free agent. They’ve now handed out five contracts worth at least $100 million since the start of the 2023-24 offseason — the same number as the rest of MLB combined.
Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, opted out of the final season of his two-year, $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants on Nov. 1 to become a free agent for the second straight offseason.
He joins the Giants’ archrival in Southern California and a rotation that is, on paper, loaded for 2025. As it stands, the Dodgers boast Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow plus Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Bobby Miller and Kershaw — should he re-sign with the club, as expected — as options to round out the group. The Dodgers are also among the leading contenders to sign Japanese star right-hander Roki Sasaki, who is expected to be posted this winter.
Snell was the National League’s Cy Young Award winner with the San Diego Padres in 2023 — five years after winning the American League honor with the Tampa Bay Rays — but his market never materialized to his liking. Concerns about inconsistent strike-throwing prompted his offers to fall short of the six-year, $162 million contract previously obtained by another power lefty in Carlos Rodon.
He instead joined the Giants in late March, missing most of spring training and struggling mightily at the start of the 2024 season. Six starts in, Snell held a 9.51 ERA and was headed to the injured list for a second time with a groin strain. When he returned, Snell performed like one of the game’s best pitchers to finish at 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 145 strikeouts (and just 44 walks) in 104 innings over 20 starts, making his decision to opt out a no-brainer.
In 14 starts from early July to late September, the 31-year-old left-hander posted a 1.23 ERA with 114 strikeouts and 30 walks in 80⅓ innings. On Aug. 2, he threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. In eight other instances, he completed at least six innings and allowed no more than two runs.
He was sidelined between April 19 and May 22 by a strained left adductor and between June 2 and July 9 by a strained left groin.
Snell took the league by storm with the Rays in 2018, leading the majors with 21 wins and pacing the AL with a 1.89 ERA. He was solid over the ensuing four years, continually missing bats at an elite level, but his ERA jumped to 3.85 during that stretch.
Overall, he is 76-58 with a 3.19 ERA in nine MLB seasons.
The only pitcher in the majors over the past two seasons with at least 250 innings and a lower ERA than Snell is the Detroit Tigers‘ Tarik Skubal.
Snell’s $36.4 million average salary would rank as the fifth-highest among active deals next year behind Ohtani ($70 million), Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler ($42 million), New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge ($40 million) and Texas Rangers right-hander Jacob deGrom ($37 million).
The Dodgers are currently +400 favorites to win the 2025 World Series at ESPN BET. There has not been a repeat World Series champion since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998 to 2000. It’s the longest drought without a repeat champion in MLB history.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Los Angeles Dodgers starter Blake Snell will back off his throwing program as he continues to recover from left shoulder inflammation, according to manager Dave Roberts.
“As he was playing catch, he just didn’t feel great,” Roberts said Wednesday afternoon before the Dodgers played the Chicago Cubs. “Right now, we’re going to slow play the throwing. Will probably get it looked at again when we get back home.”
Snell, 32, has been on the injured list since early April after making just two starts for the Dodgers. He signed a five-year, $182 million contract this past offseason.
Snell, who was set to throw a bullpen session Wednesday, felt discomfort in the shoulder while playing catch Tuesday. Roberts was asked how concerning the latest setback was.
“I wouldn’t say concerning because part of the messaging from us to Blake is, it’s about later on in the season and if there’s any type of discomfort, let’s not try to fight through it,” Roberts responded.
Snell is one of several Dodgers pitchers on the mend, including left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who pitched three innings in a minor league start Tuesday, his second rehab outing this spring.
“Velocity was good,” Roberts said. “Got into the fourth inning. He’ll make a start next week. Really positive stuff.”
The Dodgers also received positive news about right-hander Tyler Glasnow after he left his last start with leg cramps. His latest bullpen session went well, according to Roberts.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani is throwing again after missing time on the paternity list. He’ll have another bullpen session Saturday as he recovers from elbow surgery, though the team still doesn’t have a timetable for his return to major league action.
The team was also without catcher Will Smith on Wednesday after he injured his wrist on a play at the plate in Tuesday’s loss to the Cubs.
“As he made the tag, his [left] wrist turned in and so there’s some residual soreness,” Roberts said.
Smith could get imaging done when the team returns to Los Angeles, but Roberts wasn’t overly concerned about the injury.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Most players are happy to be done facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong might not be one of them.
The Los Angeles native has torched his childhood team this season, including Wednesday night at Wrigley Field when he went 3-for-4 with a home run, two stolen bases and a career-high four RBIs, helping the Cubs to a 7-6 win. It came one night after Chicago beat L.A. 11-10, with Crow-Armstrong contributing another home run.
He was asked Wednesday whether his production has special meaning coming against the team he used to root for.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I mean, they are regarded as the best, and I think we’ve enjoyed being able to show that we’re right there with them, and yeah, it’s always a little extra special for me getting to do it against the team I grew up going to see.”
Crow-Armstrong erased a 2-0 Cubs deficit with an opposite-field, three-run homer in the fourth inning, then added a run-scoring single an inning later, which turned out to be the final run of the night for the Cubs.
Overall, he had four home runs and nine RBIs in the seven-game season series against the Dodgers, which the Cubs won 4-3 after losing the first two games in Japan in mid-March. But that was before the Cubs’ offense took off. They’re averaging an MLB-high 6.3 runs per game.
Crow-Armstrong’s season took off as well, starting over a week ago when the teams met in Los Angeles. In the 10 games since, the 23-year-old is hitting .400 with five home runs.
“He needs to send me a bottle of wine or some golf balls with all the success he’s had,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts quipped before Wednesday’s game.
Roberts and Crow-Armstrong exchanged pleasantries before the first game of the series, as the second-year player is friends with Roberts’ son, Cole. The two played against each other growing up.
“I got a couple different connections to Doc,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s so great.”
That’s the same word Crow-Armstrong’s teammates are using about him as he continues to impress both at the plate and in the field. According to ESPN Research, he’s the fastest player in Cubs history to reach five home runs and 10 stolen bases, doing it in 26 games.
Plus, his pitchers love seeing him patrol center field.
“Defensively, I got to say he’s probably the best,” Wednesday’s starter, Matthew Boyd, said. “And what he’s doing at the plate is no surprise.”
Crow-Armstrong showed signs of breaking out late last year but then struggled early this season before locking in during the Cubs’ most recent road trip. He said he got “on-time” with his swing while learning how to deal with failure better. He was asked how satisfied he is with his game right now.
“If it comes out in a win, it’s very satisfactory,” he said. “It makes me feel very content. I love being able to impact it in any way I can.”
So does his manager, who called Wednesday a “wonderful game” for Crow-Armstrong.
“He made his presence felt in a big way for sure,” Craig Counsell said.
Crow-Armstrong is quickly becoming a fan favorite, as the Cubs faithful are taking to his aggressive style of play. He was asked what it’s like to hear his name chanted when he comes to the plate after producing in previous at-bats.
“I’ve tried to tune that out,” he said with a laugh. “I was actually thinking about it yesterday and I was like, I got to be 0-for-20 when they’ve chanted my name. But they continue to chant and they get behind every one of us and it’s the coolest thing.”
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