President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and normal supervisor Brandon Gomes sat beside their newest blockbuster acquisition, two-time Cy Younger Award-winning pitcher Blake Snell, and his powerhouse agent, Scott Boras.
They watched the 31-year-old left-hander, signed final week to a five-year, $182 million contract, slip right into a white Dodgers jersey amid the glint of cameras.
And, barely a month after profitable the franchise’s second World Sequence within the final 5 seasons (and first since 1988 that got here in a full season and with a championship parade), they put the remainder of the baseball world again on discover.
Their pockets stay deep. Their ambitions stay huge. And with the possibility to cement a dynasty now thrust upon them, their willingness to spend — even after committing nearly $1.5 billion in signings final offseason — doesn’t seem like waning.
“The commitment from our ownership group to do everything we can to win has been there time and time again,” Friedman stated. “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, sporting 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 largest weak spot from this October’s World Sequence run — an absence of dependable beginning pitching — and added an immediate potential repair, inking a veteran southpaw who, for lengthy stretches of his nine-year profession, has been one of the crucial dominant pitchers within 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 stated, “all conversations kept coming back to Blake.”
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell attends his introductory information convention at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)
A primary-round draft decide of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 (again when Friedman was nonetheless operating the Rays’ entrance workplace), Snell burst onto the scene in his third MLB season in 2018, when he gained his first Cy Younger Award with an AL-leading 21 wins and 1.89 ERA.
He performed a key position on two groups the Dodgers have confronted in latest postseasons too.
In 2020, Snell keyed the Rays’ run to the World Sequence, following up a 4-2 file and three.24 ERA within the pandemic-shortened common season with a 3.03 ERA over six postseason begins — the final of which got here in Recreation 6 of that yr’s Fall Basic, when Snell was infamously eliminated early by Rays supervisor Kevin Money within the Dodgers’ come-from-behind, title-clinching win.
After being traded to San Diego the next yr, Snell was a part of the 2022 Padres workforce that knocked the Dodgers out within the Nationwide League Division Sequence, incomes the win in a decisive Recreation 3 of that matchup.
“You know the old adage,” Friedman stated. “If you can’t beat him, just have him join us.”
The knocks towards Snell over time have revolved round his sturdiness and consistency.
The Seattle native had ERAs above 4.00 in 2019 (when he missed time to have unfastened our bodies surgically faraway from his elbow) and 2021 (when he battled a late-season adductor damage).
He additionally has a popularity for nibbling across the strike zone, having averaged greater than 4 walks per 9 innings over his profession.
And although Snell claimed his second Cy Younger in 2023, going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA to develop into simply the seventh pitcher in historical past to win the award in each leagues, his market as a free agent final winter by no means developed as he hoped, forcing him to accept a two-year, $62-million take care of the San Francisco Giants shortly earlier than opening day.
“I would have wanted to sign quicker,” Snell stated of his free company final winter, “but teams weren’t interested at that time.”
The Dodgers have been one of many different groups that made a late play for Snell this previous spring, as soon as it grew to become clear he’d be signing a shorter-term pact.
However after watching Snell overpower the league through the second half of final season — he went 5-0 with an MLB-best 1.23 ERA after coming back from a groin pressure in early July — there was no ready to pursue him this winter.
“That stretch in the second half last year,” Friedman stated, “is about as dominant as a pitcher can possibly be.”
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell speaks throughout a information convention at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)
The Dodgers’ hope now’s that Snell will help proceed the membership’s dominance, as properly, and nullify the one important limitation the workforce confronted whereas driving a patchwork pitching employees to the World Sequence this previous yr.
“There’s no such thing as too much pitching,” Friedman stated. “We learned that last year.”
Although Snell has nonetheless surpassed 130 innings solely twice in his profession (he eclipsed 180 frames in each of his Cy Younger seasons), he in all probability gained’t be requested to shoulder a burdensome workload with the Dodgers, who will in all probability deploy a six-man rotation subsequent yr as Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin Might, Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw (who nonetheless intends to re-sign in Los Angeles) all return from accidents.
And for as unhittable as his stuff has historically been — Snell’s profession price of 11.2 strikeouts per 9 innings is the best in MLB historical past — the Dodgers see room for him to even be extra environment friendly along with his pitch choice and plan of assault.
“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 stated. “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.”
In any case, that’s all that issues to the Dodgers at this level.
They’ve gained extra division titles than they will depend. They’ve captured a number of championships as properly, cementing this era of membership historical past because the “golden era” of Dodgers baseball Friedman has lengthy envisioned (and talked about once more on Tuesday).
Now, they’re attempting to stay on the mountaintop so long as attainable. And, with a 2025 luxurious tax payroll already estimated at an MLB-high $310 million with a number of extra strikes nonetheless to make, they’re displaying a continued willingness to spend in an effort to do it.
“For us to continue to do everything we can to win is really important,” Friedman stated. “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.”
