Dodgers’ updated rotation, payroll after Blake Snell’s $182M Free-Agent contract | News, results, highlights, stats and rumours

After signing both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto last offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the first big splash of this offseason Tuesday night by signing starting pitcher Blake Snell in free agency.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya of AthleticsSnell and the Dodgers agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract.

The Dodgers now have arguably the best and deepest projected starting rotation in baseball for the 2025 season:

1. Blake Snell
2. Tyler Glasnow
3. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
4. Shohei Ohtani
5. Tony Gonsolin OR Bobby Miller OR Dustin May OR Landon Knack

Ohtani served as only a designated hitter last season as he recovered from an elbow injury, but he is expected to be available to serve as the starting pitcher next season as well.

As for the fifth spot in the rotation, Jon Heyman of New York Post reported that the Dodgers will “probably” re-sign veteran pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Heyman also noted that the Dodgers are “favored” to sign the top Japanese free agent in pitcher Roki Sasaki.

Before these potential movements, Spotrac lists the Dodgers as having a taxable payroll of $284.1 million, the highest in Major League Baseball. Spotrac also expects their payroll to increase to $307.9 million by opening day.

After spending the first five seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, Snell has bounced around the National League West in recent years, playing three seasons with the San Diego Padres and last season with the San Francisco Giants.

During his first eight seasons, the hard-throwing southpaw joined elite company, winning the American League Cy Young Award with the Rays in 2018 and the National League Cy Young Award with the Padres in 2023.

Snell is one of only seven pitchers in MLB history to win the Cy Young in both leagues, joining legendary names such as Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.

Despite posting a 2.25 ERA and winning the NL Cy Young in 2023, Snell did not sign with a team in free agency last offseason until March 18, settling for a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants .

Snell, who turns 32 on Dec. 4, proved he deserved more by going 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 145 strikeouts over 104 innings in 20 starts with San Francisco last season.

Given how successful he is despite missing nearly all of spring training, Snell opted out of the final year of his contract in hopes of getting a much bigger deal in free agency this offseason.

That decision quickly paid dividends as he landed a monster deal with a Dodgers team on the verge of winning the World Series.

Despite entering last season with a deep and talented rotation, the Dodgers were down to only Yamamoto and current free agents Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler when they reached the playoffs.

Glasnow, Kershaw, Gonsolin and May were all lost for the season at that point, while Ohtani was not allowed to pitch at all last season.

Now, it can be argued that the Dodgers have four ace-caliber pitchers in their rotation, along with plenty of viable options for the fifth spot.

While it seems like an embarrassment of riches for LA, last season showed that even the deepest rotations can be decimated by injuries, which likely explains why president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is reading even more into the 2025 campaign.