Blake

Snell

Snell recorded only two strikeouts on the night while issuing four free passes. The Tigers scratched out a run against him in the fourth inning as Spencer Torkelson dashed home on a wild pitch, then they added another in the fifth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Manuel Margot. Snell was able to work out of several big jams though and stranded six baserunners in his five frames. The 32-year-old southpaw got 14 whiffs on 92 pitches on the night, registering a CSW of 29 percent. He’ll look to build off of this outing when he takes on the Braves at home on Wednesday.

Snell and Detroit ace Tarik Skubal will square off at Dodger Stadium in a must-see matchup starring two of the best southpaws in baseball. The 32-year-old lefty, who signed a five-year, $182 million offseason deal to join Los Angeles’ star-studded rotation, will be making his official Dodgers debut after tossing a couple innings last week in an exhibition contest overseas at the Tokyo Dome. He’ll be followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki for the remainder of the series.

Blake Snell started and gave up all three runs. Still, both Dodgers starters were in fine form, with Snell striking out seven over 4 1/3 innings. Glasnow’s 45 pitches produced nine missed swings and a 45 percent CSW. There was just no offense to be found, as the Dodgers lineup fanned 12 times and was limited to three singles.

Snell didn’t have his best curveball and gave up quite a bit of hard contact today, but he still struck out five in his last outing before the Dodgers leave for Japan. Snell is not expected to start either of the two regular-season games in Tokyo, as the Dodgers will give fans what they want and use both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.

Snell needed 30 pitches (20 strikes) to work a scoreless opening frame in his Cactus League debut, working around a two-out single by former Rays teammate Randy Arozarena following a strikeout of Julio Rodríguez. The 32-year-old former NL Cy Young Award winner will be at the helm of Los Angeles’ starting rotation after signing a five-year, $182 million contract back in late November.

The 32-year-old southpaw inked a massive five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers in late November, adding a two-time Cy Young Award winner to what was already one of the best rotations in all of baseball. While he has been inconsistent at times over the years, Snell’s fantasy stock will certainly be boosted by having one of the best offenses in the league providing support for him. Snell has been a fringe top 50 selection in fantasy drafts as the 12th starting pitcher off the board on average.

The conditional year after Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract would be available to the Dodgers if Snell was assigned to another level at any point in the first five years, or if the left-hander was to miss 90 or more days consecutively on the injured list. It’s an interesting wrinkle to an already intriguing contract that includes a massive signing bonus of $52 million and — of course — deferrals.

The deal is now official after passing his physical. Snell is a major boost to the Los Angeles rotation, and when healthy he’s been among the most effective pitchers in baseball; an understatement as seen in two Cy Young awards. He should pitch near the top of the rotation, and while managers need to take some precautions based on his durability, this is a wonderful fit for both fantasy and reality.

Snell lands the long-term deal he couldn’t get as the Cy Young Award winner last winter and even a little more to join the defending World Series champions. He’ll join Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow in the Dodgers’ six-man rotation, with perhaps more additions to come. They still have Tony Gonsolin, Bobby Miller, Dustin May and Landon Knack as options, too. The move to Los Angeles doesn’t change much from a park factors standpoint for Snell, whose 34.7 percent strikeout rate last season in San Francisco ranked second behind only Garrett Crochet among starting pitchers that eclipsed 100 innings. However, it should put him in line for a few additional wins, thanks to the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup, which boosts his fantasy stock slightly. He’s a surefire top 25 starting pitcher heading into 2025 drafts.

Feinsand notes that Fried “may be the most sought-after arm” this offseason. That’s, in part, due to a career 3.07 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 863 strikeouts in 884 1/3 innings, but also because Fried is expected to command less on the open market than both Burnes and Snell. Given that the Red Sox need a left-handed starter and that Lucas Giolito and Max Fried were high school teammates, Feinsand suggests that Boston couldn’t be an intriguing destination for the 30-year-old. Other likely suitors are the Braves, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, and Mets.