The San Francisco Giants signed starting pitcher Blake Snell to a two-year, $62 million contract in free agency, but before the Giants landed him, the Los Angeles Dodgers apparently tried to steal him away in the midnight hour.
The Dodgers had already spent inordinate amounts of money during an offseason that was highlighted by the additions of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but they still tried to spend even more by making a play for Snell, via Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
But, in the end, Snell opted to join San Francisco.
Thus far, Los Angeles is probably thankful Snell joined its NL West division rival.
Snell has already missed time with an adductor strain, and in his five starts, he has gone 0-3 with a 10.42 ERA. It's obviously a very small sample size, but the 31-year-old has allowed 27 hits while issuing 11 walks over 19 innings. He has registered 24 strikeouts, but the 2.000 WHIP kind of negates that.
Of course, it's still early, so there is plenty of time for Snell to turn things around.
Dodgers' rotation seems just fine without Blake Snell
The Dodgers' starting rotation has been one of the best in baseball this season, with four of their starters featuring ERAs well under 4.
Tyler Glasnow has been the ace of the staff thus far, boasting a 3.04 ERA while fanning 95 hitters across 75 frames. He also sports a minuscule 0.905 WHIP and a terrific 2.63 FIP. Then there is Yamamoto, who has been a bit shaky of late, but still lays claim to a solid 3.51 ERA and a very impressive 5.31 K/BB ratio. Gavin Stone and James Paxton have registered ERAs of 3.16 and 3.29, respectively, and Walker Buehler and Landon Knack have each done a fine job splitting time in the No. 5 spot.
So, realistically speaking, Los Angeles didn't really need Snell.
Yes, Snell has experience, and yes, he has a pair of Cy Young awards in his back pocket. However, at some point, LA needs to start monitoring how much cash it doles out. In addition to Ohtani and Yamamoto, the Dodgers also signed big names such as Teoscar Hernandez, Glasnow and Paxton this offseason. All of those signings have certainly worked out very well, so it's not like the money was poorly spent. However, had they also inked Snell, they probably would have been going a bridge too far.
Los Angeles is currently 36-22 and sits six-and-a-half games in front of San Francisco and the San Diego Padres for first place in the NL West. Neither the Giants nor the Padres have provided a whole lot of competition for LA early on, and that's in spite of the Dodgers being fairly inconsistent.
Los Angeles got off to a disappointing 12-11 start, but then went on a tear to get to 33-17. Dave Roberts' club then lost five straight games, including a rather disastrous three-game sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers have since bounced back by reeling off three consecutive wins and will begin a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
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