Dodgers’ Snell: ‘This is where you want to play’
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Blake Snell donned a white Los Angeles Dodgers jersey for the first time Tuesday, representing the latest high-priced free agent to sign with a franchise now coming off a championship.
Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract — with $52 million up front and another $66 million deferred through 2046 — marked the fourth nine-figure signing the Dodgers have consummated over the past 12 months, following Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.
All three of those players will be in the Dodgers’ rotation in 2025, but they all bring varying levels of injury concerns. Snell himself has faced durability questions throughout his career, most of them aimed at an inability to pitch deep into games, but he also brings another frontline starter to a staff that, at full strength, might be the best in the sport. And though he’ll celebrate his 32nd birthday on Wednesday, the Dodgers believe he can be even better.
“I’ve known him since he was 18 years old,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the longtime Tampa Bay Rays executive who had a hand in drafting Snell 52nd overall out of high school in 2011.
“To watch his journey, watch the incredible success that he’s had, has been very special. And with a guy that’s enjoyed that much success, usually in major league free agency you’re buying the back side of a guy’s career, the accomplishments that they’ve had. And with Blake, one thing that’s really exciting for us is that, for as much success as he’s had, we feel like there’s more in there, and a lot of upside beyond what he’s done to this point, and the impact he can have on us in our quest to win a World Series this year and as many years as we can see out.”
The first championship for this era’s Dodgers came against Snell’s Rays in the 2020 World Series. Snell started Game 6 and was famously removed after giving up his first hit with one out in the sixth inning, triggering the Dodgers’ championship-clinching comeback.
Snell spent the next three years with the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers’ emergent rival, and finished that stretch by winning his second Cy Young Award, going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA in 2023. He became a free agent the ensuing offseason and expected to sign a massive contract, but the offers did not come. It wasn’t until the middle of March that Snell agreed to a far lesser deal with the San Francisco Giants, one that guaranteed him $62 million for two seasons and gave him the ability to opt out after 2024.
“Clubs weren’t interested,” Snell’s agent, Scott Boras, said. “They just didn’t call. The market for free agents started maybe in the middle of February. It was that different. People like to register that it has something to do with me; I’m just a functionary of a system.”
A shortened spring training was followed by an arduous first three months in 2024, during which Snell’s ERA ballooned to 9.51. Then Snell suddenly dominated again. From the start of July to the end of September, he threw a no-hitter, completed at least six innings in 10 of 14 starts and posted a 1.23 ERA with 114 strikeouts and 30 walks in 80⅓ innings. Shortly after Snell opted out, the Dodgers, who came close to signing him before he chose the Giants last spring, made him their foremost priority.
“It was really easy, just because me and [partner] Haeley wanted to live here,” Snell said of his decision to join the Dodgers. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while. And when you look at the team, you look at what they’ve built, what they’re doing, it’s just something you want to be a part of. Look at the first three hitters in the lineup. It’s tough to go against. So to be on the other side and know they’re going to be hitting for me, it’s pretty exciting.”
Snell was referencing Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, core pieces of the sport’s most star-studded roster. Those three, along with Snell, Glasnow and Yamamoto, give the Dodgers six players with contracts totaling more than $1.87 billion — and a lot of that money will be paid out much later.
Betts, Freeman, Snell and Ohtani especially all carry deferred money on their contracts. So does utility man Tommy Edman, who was signed to a five-year, $74 million extension last week, as well as catcher Will Smith, who signed to a 10-year, $140 million extension in January.
The Dodgers will owe those seven players more than $1 billion in deferred payments from 2028 to 2046.
“It’s just a lever,” Friedman said. “We’ve talked about this. We’ve done deals recently that don’t have it, we’ve done deals that do. In a negotiation I think it’s always challenging and so you’re looking to any lever you possibly can to help get to a point where there is overlap. There are times where that deal lines up in a more straightforward way, there’s times where it’s less straightforward. Including deferrals helps as a lever to find that overlap. It’s been a useful tool for us. But we have no hard-and-fast rule. We just like to get deals done.”
The Snell signing marked the second time in major league history that the reigning World Series champions acquired the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the ensuing offseason, following the New York Yankees‘ acquisition of Roger Clemens in 1999.
Despite his age, Snell secured the third-largest contract for a left-handed pitcher — largely because the stuff and the command remain elite enough that the Dodgers believe their decorated pitching infrastructure can take him to an even higher level.
Snell’s 2.03 ERA in seven career starts at Dodger Stadium also didn’t hurt.
“Being in L.A., the pressure is always on,” Snell said. “I like that. Living here, it’s pretty amazing, the opportunities. But being able to pitch in a packed stadium, you know, you make moments for people, and this is where you want to play. I don’t think there’s a better situation that you could be in than being right here.”
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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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