Dodgers are at it again signing Blake Snell to death star lineup with deferred money

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed another ace for their already loaded rotation by adding Blake Snell in free agency. And they did it with deferred money.

That's right, the Dodgers got Shohei Ohtani at an absurd discount because of deferred money and they convinced yet another star to give them a hand by waiting to collect. According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Snell's deal includes some deferred money. The only thing that's not clear is whether it's a significant portion.

Jeff Passan reported the full details of the deal, which comes out to five years and $182 million.

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Deferred money on Blake Snell deal adds to Dodgers Evil Empire

The Dodgers rotation already included Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. That's not accounting for potential pitching contributions from Shohei Ohtani. Clayton Kershaw is expected to return as well. There is also a possibility for Los Angeles to acquire Roki Sasaki, the latest pitching phenom making the switch from the NPB to MLB.

The plan is to run with a six-man rotation. With Snell on board, they're set up with an absurd amount of pitching to match their impressive lineup of bats.

Adding Snell is a statement to the rest of baseball: The Dodgers aren't content with just one World Series victory under their belt. They're aiming for an unprecedented run of success. The deferred money is key to that.

Los Angeles owes Ohtani $700 million for 10 years, which would be $70 million per year. However, $68 million of that is deferred to 2034, giving the team an incredible amount of flexibility to sign other big names. That domino set off the series of events that allowed the Dodgers to bring in Snell.

Snell is a two-time Cy Young Award winner. Despite making just one All-Star game, he has the ability to be one of the best arms in the game. He won his second Cy Young in 2023 with a 2.25 ERA. In 2024 with the Giants, he posted a 3.12 ERA in 20 starts.