Red Sox free-agent target Blake Snell is signing with Dodgers

Blake Snell, a Red Sox free-agent target, is the latest addition to the reigning World Series champion Dodgers.

The two-time Cy Young winner is headed to Los Angeles on a five-year, $182 million contract. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the contract includes a $52 million signing bonus, deferred money, no opt-outs, and a limited no-trade clause. The deal is pending a physical, but Snell already confirmed the news with a photoshopped image of himself in a Dodgers uniform on his Instagram.

Snell is one of seven pitchers in MLB history to win a Cy Young award in each league. He took home the American League prize with the ’18 Tampa Bay Rays, and won the National League’s as a member of the ’23 San Diego Padres.

Some industry figures considered the Red Sox the ‘best fit’ and ‘most likely’ landing spot for Snell, but the Yankees and Orioles were also in the mix. Boston did, in fact, meet with Snell before he chose the Dodgers, whose starting rotation already boasts Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Snell’s longtime Rays teammate, Tyler Glasnow.

With the first big free agent off the board, the hot stove will only get hotter. The Red Sox have already pivoted to the other top free-agent lefty, Max Fried. They’re also in the mix for right-hander Corbin Burnes, and have been in touch with the White Sox regarding southpaw Garrett Crochet; Chicago is listening to offers for Crochet’s final two years of club control, but their asking price is astronomical. And of course, they’re in the bidding war for superstar Juan Soto, who might make his decision before MLB’s Winter Meetings begin on Dec. 8.