In the right-field Stadium Club at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, where dozens of media members gathered for yet another introductory news conference welcoming a star player to the organization, the Dodgers flexed their financial muscles with businesslike handshakes and celebratory smiles.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes sat beside their latest blockbuster acquisition, two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Blake Snell, and his powerhouse agent, Scott Boras.
They watched the 31-year-old left-hander, signed last week to a five-year, $182 million contract, slip into a white Dodgers jersey amid the flicker of cameras.
And, barely a month after winning the franchise’s second World Series in the last five seasons (and first since 1988 that came in a full season and with a championship parade), they put the rest of the baseball world back on notice.
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Their pockets remain deep. Their ambitions remain vast. And with the chance to cement a dynasty now thrust upon them, their willingness to spend — even after committing almost $1.5 billion in signings last offseason — doesn’t appear to be waning.
“The commitment from our ownership group to do everything we can to win has been there time and time again,” Friedman said. “Last offseason [there was a] very clear direction. [This year it was], ‘Let’s continue with what we built. Let’s be aggressive.’ And that message has continued.”
Added Snell, wearing a freshly sewn No. 7 on his jersey: “This is where you want to play. I don’t think there’s a better situation than what you can be in right here.”
In Snell, the Dodgers took their biggest weakness from this October’s World Series run — a lack of reliable starting pitching — and added an instant potential fix, inking a veteran southpaw who, for long stretches of his nine-year career, has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors.
“As we were getting together and talking about ways we could put ourselves in the best position to win a World Series in 2025,” Friedman said, “all conversations kept coming back to Blake.”
A first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 (back when Friedman was still running the Rays’ front office), Snell burst onto the scene in his third MLB season in 2018, when he won his first Cy Young Award with an AL-leading 21 wins and 1.89 ERA.
He played a key role on two teams the Dodgers have faced in recent postseasons too.
In 2020, Snell keyed the Rays’ run to the World Series, following up a 4-2 record and 3.24 ERA in the pandemic-shortened regular season with a 3.03 ERA over six postseason starts — the last of which came in Game 6 of that year’s Fall Classic, when Snell was infamously removed early by Rays manager Kevin Cash in the Dodgers’ come-from-behind, title-clinching win.
After being traded to San Diego the following year, Snell was part of the 2022 Padres team that knocked the Dodgers out in the National League Division Series, earning the win in a decisive Game 3 of that matchup.
“You know the old adage,” Friedman said. “If you can’t beat him, just have him join us.”
The knocks against Snell over the years have revolved around his durability and consistency.
The Seattle native had ERAs above 4.00 in 2019 (when he missed time to have loose bodies surgically removed from his elbow) and 2021 (when he battled a late-season adductor injury).
He also has a reputation for nibbling around the strike zone, having averaged more than four walks per nine innings over his career.
And even though Snell claimed his second Cy Young in 2023, going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA to become just the seventh pitcher in history to win the award in both leagues, his market as a free agent last winter never developed as he hoped, forcing him to settle for a two-year, $62-million deal with the San Francisco Giants shortly before opening day.
“I would have wanted to sign quicker,” Snell said of his free agency last winter, “but teams weren’t interested at that time.”
The Dodgers were one of the other teams that made a late play for Snell this past spring, once it became clear he’d be signing a shorter-term pact.
But after watching Snell overpower the league during the second half of last season — he went 5-0 with an MLB-best 1.23 ERA after returning from a groin strain in early July — there was no waiting to pursue him this winter.
“That stretch in the second half last year,” Friedman said, “is about as dominant as a pitcher can possibly be.”
The Dodgers’ hope now is that Snell can help continue the club’s dominance, as well, and nullify the one significant limitation the team faced while riding a patchwork pitching staff to the World Series this past year.
“There’s no such thing as too much pitching,” Friedman said. “We learned that last year.”
Though Snell has still surpassed 130 innings only twice in his career (he eclipsed 180 frames in both of his Cy Young seasons), he probably won’t be asked to shoulder a burdensome workload with the Dodgers, who will probably deploy a six-man rotation next year as Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw (who still intends to re-sign in Los Angeles) all return from injuries.
And for as unhittable as his stuff has traditionally been — Snell’s career rate of 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest in MLB history — the Dodgers see room for him to also be more efficient with his pitch selection and plan of attack.
“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 have had,” Friedman said. “With Blake, one thing that’s really exciting for us is, 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 that can have on us and our quest to win a World Series this year, and as many years as we can see out.”
After all, that’s all that matters to the Dodgers at this point.
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They have won more division titles than they can count. They have captured multiple championships as well, cementing this generation of club history as the “golden era” of Dodgers baseball Friedman has long envisioned (and mentioned again on Tuesday).
Now, they are trying to remain at the mountaintop as long as possible. And, with a 2025 luxury tax payroll already estimated at an MLB-high $310 million with several more moves still to make, they’re showing a continued willingness to spend in order to do it.
“For us to continue to do everything we can to win is really important,” Friedman said. “And adding someone with Blake’s ability, the compete, what he’ll bring to our staff, we felt like was an incredibly impactful move in that.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
