Dodgers to flaunt Blake Snell signing in front of former team and troll Yankees at same time

The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to lap the competition in free agency. One year removed from signing Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Teoscar Hernandez en route to a free agency bill of more than $1 billion in guaranteed salary, the Dodgers inked Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Roki Sasaki, and Kirby Yates to new contracts — and re-signed Hernandez, for good measure.

Snell was one of the first major pieces off the board this offseason, and his decision to spurn other contenders for the Dodgers juggernaut created quite a stir. Snell has been around the block in the NL West, spending time with the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants. In accepting a five-year, $182 million contract with significant deferred money from the Dodgers, however, Snell is essentially forgoing the respectability of an underdog in an effort to stack career achievements.

There isn't much left for Snell to accomplish individually. He's a two-time Cy Young winner and an All-Star, with some of the sharpest stuff you'll find when he's operating at full strength. Health has been a concern year to year, but Snell's best is arguably MLB's best. The hard-throwing southpaw finished last season with a 3.12 ERA and 145 strikeouts across 104.0 innings. His ERA was 1.44 in 10 starts after July.

The Dodgers are glad to add him to baseball's deepest rotation, and now Los Angeles plans to rub it in everyone's face — but especially Snell's former team.

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Dodgers set to troll Padres into oblivion with Blake Snell bobblehead night

When the Dodgers host the Padres on June 16, it will be Blake Snell bobblehead night. Coincidence? Of course not. Snell spent three seasons in San Diego and shared a few memorable battles with LA, but when the Padres didn't want to pay him, Snell wound up in San Francisco for his gap season. His Giants manager happened to be former Padres skipper Bob Melvin.

Now, Snell is in LA for the long run.

The Dodgers ousted San Diego from the postseason a few months ago in a hard-fought NLCS. That was probably the toughest competition LA faced on its way to a World Series victory. The Padres are probably wishing they'd held on to Snell after their explosive offense did a disappearing act late in the series, which left San Diego's pitching staff exposed.

San Diego was probably a better all-around team than the AL-champion New York Yankees if we're being honest. The Yankees were headlined by two all-time greats in Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, but the rest of the roster left much to be desired. Given Judge's well-documented postseason struggles, that team was hardly equipped to give the Dodgers a real challenge.

That gives the Dodgers another chance to dance on the Padres' grave — while also trolling the Yankees, for good measure. On June 17, the night after Snell's bobbleheads fill the stadium, LA will give out replicas of the World Series trophy to fans. So, the Padres get to bask in the bitter taste of defeat. The Yankees, meanwhile, don't even get the respect of having mini World Series trophies passed out in front of them.

Shoutout to the Dodgers' marketing execs for the incredibly petty scheduling. Both Padres and Yankees fans are probably fuming, which is the whole point. We don't have to like what the Dodgers are cooking up, but we can at least respect an organization that knows it's operating a level above the competition.