Dodgers signing two-time Cy Young winner to 5-year, big-money deal

The reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are adding a two-time Cy Young Award winner in the biggest move so far this offseason.

Left-hander Blake Snell has reached an agreement with the Dodgers on a five-year, $182 million free agent contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the agreement. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been announced.

After not finding a long-term deal last winter, the free-agent left-hander went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 20 starts last season on a one-year, $32 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. After one of the greatest second halves in recent history — a 1.31 ERA over 13 starts, with 111 strikeouts in 75⅓ innings, including a no-hitter at Cincinnati — he opted out of the final year of that deal.

Meanwhile, even as the Dodgers won the World Series, they needed rotation stability. Right-handers Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty are free agents, while several pitchers have health questions to answer in 2025, including lefty Clayton Kershaw.

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Even still, the Dodgers have more than $1 billion tied up in pitchers they hope will be in their rotation next year. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto agreed to a $325 million deal before the 2023 season, and Tyler Glasnow signed a $136.5 million extension after a trade from the Rays. 

Enter Snell.

Including his deal, that’s $643.5 million committed before factoring whatever portion of Shohei Ohtani’s heavily-deferred 10-year, $700 million deal one might consider devoted to pitching, and not hitting. 

Snell has a history of slow starts (and strong finishes), but last season’s was perhaps his most extreme. After missing all of spring training, he jumped right into the Giants’ rotation and only made three starts before spending a month on the injured list with a thigh injury.

In six starts over the season’s first three months, Snell was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA.

But after he returned from a second stint on the injured list on July 9, he allowed just 11 earned runs in his final 14 starts — going 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 80⅓ innings as the Giants went 12-2 in those games. Included in that amazing run was his first career no-hitter (and first career complete game) against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.

That was more than enough for the Dodgers to pounce and snag arguably the top option off the market in a winter where Snell, lefty Max Fried and right-hander Corbin Burnes are far and away the best options available.

Snell, who turns 32 on Dec. 4, was a first-round pick out of high school by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011. He pitched for the Rays for five seasons, winning a career-high 21 games and the AL Cy Young award in 2018, before being traded to the San Diego Padres after the 2020 season.

He spent three years in San Diego, winning the 2023 NL Cy Young award, before becoming a free agent and signing with the Giants last offseason.

Over nine MLB seasons, Snell has an overall record of 76-58 with a 3.19 ERA in 211 games.

His career mark of 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings ranks him No. 1 in baseball history for players with at least 1,000 innings pitched.