A domino has finally fallen.
Blake Snell is off the board. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard)AP
Top free agent left-hander Blake Snell, who had been frequently linked to the Red Sox in recent days, has agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers, as reported by MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Snell himself posted a picture of himself in a Los Angeles jersey on Instagram.
Snell’s deal, which reportedly includes deferred money, is worth an average annual value of $36.4 million. It’s the first nine-figure free agent deal handed out this winter.
Snell was one of three aces available on the free agent market along with Max Fried and Corbin Burnes. The Red Sox, who are aggressively pursuing a front-of-the-rotation option this winter, have been linked to all three and were reported to have met with Snell last week. Earlier Tuesday, MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported that the meeting may have been over Zoom, confirming that all three top starters were in play for Boston.
Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner (AL in 2018, NL in 2023), turns 32 at the beginning of December. He overcame a late start after signing with the Giants in spring training to post a stellar 3.12 ERA and 2.43 FIP in 20 starts (104 innings) while boasting a 145:44 strikeout-to-walk rate. After the season, he opted out of his 2025 salary of $30 million, so he took home $32 million in his lone year in San Francisco. The Seattle native will now pitch for his third National League West team in three seasons and fortify a rotation that will try to defend a World Series title alongside Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Bobby Miller, Dustin May and eventually, Shohei Ohtani next season. Los Angeles starters Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw are all free agents.
For the Red Sox, the Snell decision marks the first miss in what should be a busy offseason. They will remain linked to Fried, Burnes and top trade candidate Garrett Crochet of the White Sox as well as talented position player targets like Juan Soto, the top free agent on the market.
Snell was ranked by MLBTradeRumors as the No. 4 available free agent this winter; Burnes (No. 2), Fried (No. 6), Flaherty (No. 8) and lefty Sean Manaea (No. 10) are all ranked in the top 10. Then there’s 23-year-old Japanese ace Roki Sasaki, who may be the best of all but won’t be available until the January international signing period. Sasaki, who comes with a totally different set of rules, has been heavily linked to Los Angeles.
