Dodgers and Blake Snell agree to five-year contract

10:04 p.m.: The deal includes some deferred funds, reports Fabian Ardaya of Athletic (X-Link). The deal does not contain any opt-out clauses, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.

10:01 p.m.: Blake Snell and the Dodgers have agreed to a five-year deal, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X-Link). ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (on X) that the deal, which has yet to be physically finalized, guarantees Snell $182 million. The lefty first announced he was joining LA in an Instagram post on Tuesday evening.

The defending champions are making further improvements in their biggest change of the off-season so far. It’s a much quicker turnaround as a free agent than Snell’s entry into the market last winter. The star southpaw was coming off a Cy Young-winning season in his first free agent trip. The long-term contract he sought did not materialize, leading to an extended stay as a free agent. Snell remained without a contract in March before joining the Giants on a two-year deal that guaranteed him $62 million and, more importantly, allowed him to opt out after the first season.

Snell had a dismal start to the season. Snell allowed more than one run per inning in his first six appearances. While he struggled with groin problems, he ended up on the injured list twice in the first three months. As recently as mid-June, it looked like Snell was skirting the chance to return in free agency.

That changed when he returned from his second IL stint. From that point on, Snell was the best pitcher in baseball. In his last 14 starts, he posted a 1.23 earned run average and kept opponents at bay with a .123/.211/.171 batting line that seemed like a throwback to the days of pitchers’ slugging. Snell struck out more than 38% of the batters he faced during that stretch. He had five double-digit strikeout performances and fanned at least eight batters in ten appearances. Snell had the best two-start run of his career just before the trade deadline. On July 27, he struck out 15 in six scoreless innings against the Rockies before striking out 11 with 11 punchouts against the Reds on August 2 at Great American Ball Park.

More will follow.