MLB Free Agency

After signing both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto last offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the first major splash of this offseason Tuesday night by signing starting pitcher Blake Snell in free agency.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Snell and the Dodgers agreed to a five-year, $182 million contract.

The Dodgers now have arguably the best and deepest projected starting rotation in baseball for the 2025 season:

1. Blake Snell
2. Tyler Glasnow
3. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
4. Shohei Ohtani
5. Tony Gonsolin OR Bobby Miller OR Dustin May OR Landon Knack

Ohtani served as only a designated hitter last season as he recovered from an elbow injury, but he is expected to be available to also act as a starting pitcher next season.

As for the fifth spot in the rotation, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the Dodgers will "presumably" re-sign veteran pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Heyman also noted that the Dodgers are "favored" to sign the top Japanese free agent in pitcher Roki Sasaki.

Prior to those potential moves, Spotrac lists the Dodgers as having a tax payroll of $284.1 million, which is the highest in Major League Baseball. Spotrac also projects their payroll will rise to $307.9 million by Opening Day.

After spending the first five seasons of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, Snell has made the rounds through the National League West in more recent years, playing three seasons with the San Diego Padres and last season with the San Francisco Giants.

Over his first eight seasons, the hard-throwing southpaw joined some exclusive company, winning the American League Cy Young Award with the Rays in 2018 and the National League Cy Young Award with the Padres in 2023.

Snell is one of only seven pitchers in MLB history to win the Cy Young in both leagues, joining legendary names such as Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.

Despite posting a 2.25 ERA and winning the NL Cy Young in 2023, Snell didn't sign with a team in free agency last offseason until March 18, and he had to settle for a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants.

Snell, who will turn 32 on Dec. 4, proved that he deserved more by going 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 145 strikeouts over 104 innings in 20 starts with San Francisco last season.

Given how successful he does despite missing nearly all of spring training, Snell opted out of the final year of his contract in hopes of landing a much bigger deal in free agency this offseason.

That decision quickly paid dividends, as he landed a monster deal with a Dodgers team that is coming off winning the World Series.

Despite entering last season with a deep and talented rotation, the Dodgers were down to only Yamamoto and current free agents Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler by the time they reached the playoffs.

Glasnow, Kershaw, Gonsolin and May were all lost for the season by that point, while Ohtani wasn't cleared to pitch at all last season.

Now, it can be argued that the Dodgers have four ace-caliber pitchers in their rotation, along with plenty of viable options for the fifth spot.

While it seems like an embarrassment of riches for L.A., last season proved that even the deepest of rotations can be decimated by injury, which likely explains why president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is loading up even more for the 2025 campaign.

Superstar free-agent outfielder Juan Soto has reportedly received a contract offer from five teams so far this offseason.

According to NJ.com's Randy Miller and MLB Network's Jon Morosi, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays have all submitted offers to Soto.

Soto is widely considered the biggest prize in MLB free agency this offseason after finishing third in the American League MVP voting and leading the Yankees to a World Series appearance last season.

Per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Soto is expected to receive "multiple rounds" of offers with the goal of gauging interest and weeding out candidates as the process moves forward.

Kuty added that the next round of offers could start next week, and a final decision could be made around the time of the winter meetings, which run from Dec. 9 through Dec. 12 in Dallas.

Last offseason, Shohei Ohtani set a new record for the richest contract in MLB history when he signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers.

That move paid instant dividends for the Dodgers, as he had the first season in MLB history with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, was named National League MVP and led L.A. to a World Series title.

While Soto would perhaps be hard-pressed to challenge Ohtani's contract since the Dodgers signed him to be both a hitter and starting pitcher moving forward, Soto still figures to land one of the biggest deals ever.

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand wrote earlier this month that the "general consensus" is Soto will get a contract of $500 million over 10 years as the floor, although the value could reach $600 million or beyond if teams get into a bidding war.

It is fairly rare that a superstar as young as Soto becomes available in free agency, which will undoubtedly help drive interest.

Despite having just turned 26 last month, Soto is already a four-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, one-time batting champion and one-time World Series champ.

After starring with the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres, the Yankees acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Padres last offseason.

It was a risky move since the Yanks were acquiring a player on an expiring contract, but he proved to be a perfect fit in the Bronx, slashing .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs, 109 RBI and 128 runs scored.

Soto won a Silver Slugger Award and was a Gold Glove finalist, plus he was third in the MVP voting behind only teammate Aaron Judge and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt.

On top of that, Soto was arguably the Yankees' best player during their playoff run to the World Series, hitting .327 with four homers and nine RBI in 14 postseason games.

The Yankees can spend as much as any team, and they proved that last offseason when they signed Judge to a nine-year, $360 million deal that will likely result in him spending the rest of his career in pinstripes.

Soto is also now familiar with the Yankees organization and is well aware of how dominant of a tandem he and Judge can be in their lineup as well.

All of those factors could potentially give the Yankees a leg up on the competition, but the Dodgers and Mets have proved that they can spend just as big as the Yankees, so they have to be considered legitimate contenders as well.

The Red Sox and Blue Jays have not been as aggressive as the aforementioned teams lately when it comes to major signings, but they could perhaps be motivated to pay up for Soto, knowing that signing him would severely weaken an AL East rival in the Yankees.

The Boston Red Sox are reportedly entering themselves into the sweepstakes to sign superstar outfielder Juan Soto in free agency this offseason.

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Soto is "at the top of [Boston's] want list," and the Red Sox are scheduled to meet with Soto this week.

Per Mark W. Sanchez and Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the New York Yankees and New York Mets are set to meet with Soto as well. It was also reported by Passan that the Toronto Blue Jays will be the first team to meet with Soto.

After spending parts of five seasons with the Washington Nationals and parts of two seasons with the San Diego Padres, Soto was traded to the Yankees last offseason when it became clear he intended to test free agency.

The Yanks acquired Soto without any assurances he would re-sign, but the decision paid dividends, as he played a massive role in New York reaching the World Series for the first time since 2009.

Soto slashed .288/.419/.569 with 41 home runs, 109 RBI and 128 runs scored in his only season with the Yankees to date, which was good enough to make him a finalist for American League MVP.

If that wasn't enough, the four-time All-Star and one-time World Series champion showed he can still get it done in the postseason as well, hitting .327 with four homers and nine RBI in 14 playoff games for the Yankees.

Losing Soto to any team would be a major blow to the Yankees since he and Aaron Judge formed arguably the best one-two punch in baseball last season, but Soto signing with the Yanks' biggest rival in the Red Sox would add insult to injury.

The Red Sox have bragging rights over the Yankees to some degree since they have won two World Series since New York last won it all in 2009, but the past few years have been a massive struggle for Boston.

For the first time since 2010 to 2012, the Red Sox have missed the playoffs in three straight seasons, posting records of 78-84, 78-84 and 81-81. To make matters even worse, they have only one playoff appearance in the past six seasons.

By comparison, the Yankees have seven playoff appearances in the past eight seasons, although they reached the World Series only once during that timeframe.

Few things could speed up Boston's timeline and make it both a playoff and World Series contender more quickly than signing a 26-year-old, MVP-caliber hitter in Soto.

Adding Soto to a core of Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran would give the Red Sox one of the most dynamic lineups in baseball, and it would perhaps allow them to leapfrog the Yankees for the distinction of AL East favorites.

Of course, pitching is still a huge issue for the Red Sox, but Passan noted that they intend to be aggressive on that front as well.

Only a limited amount of teams can afford to pay Soto a contract that is likely to rival the 19-year, $700 million deal Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last offseason, and his market seems to be taking shape.

Along with the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Blue Jays, Heyman reported this week that the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and two mystery teams are expected to meet with Soto in southern California.

Soto's agent, Scott Boras, told ESPN's Jorge Castillo earlier this month that winning is Soto's No. 1 priority.

The Red Sox have not done as much winning in recent years as the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets, but if their offer is strong enough, they may be able to convince him that he is the missing ingredient to a winning formula.

Agent Scott Boras is known for using puns when it comes to his clients, and he didn't miss an opportunity to do just that Wednesday.

"The Snelling salts have created a lot of whiffs," he said of free-agent pitcher Blake Snell, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "The market has definitely awakened to Blake Snell."

Snell is available for teams in need of starting pitching because he opted out of the final season of the two-year deal he signed with the San Francisco Giants last offseason.

That he is hitting free agency again with Boras is notable, as the agent-player combination struggled to find a deal they found acceptable until quite late in the offseason ahead of the 2024 campaign. In fact, he didn't agree to a deal until March 18 with San Francisco even though he was the National League Cy Young winner in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.

He and Boras surely hope it goes better this time around, and there is reason to believe it will.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com noted the southpaw's second-half run in 2024 "will likely make him much more desirable than last offseason, when compensation was tied to his free agency."

While Snell struggled out of the gates in San Francisco and went 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts while dealing with injuries in the first half, he went 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 14 starts after returning to the rotation on July 9. He also pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.

In all, the 31-year-old posted a 3.12 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 145 strikeouts in 104 innings last season.

The second-half surge made the numbers look much better, but they were still a step below his 2023 Cy Young season when he finished with a league-best 2.25 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 234 strikeouts in 180 innings.

Snell is a two-time Cy Young winner and two-time ERA title winner. He is one of the most notable names on the market this offseason and positioned himself to land a marquee contract, which made his decision to opt out unsurprising.

Now he and Boras will look to cash in on the next deal.