Blake Snell defects to Dodgers from SF Giants

Blake Snell’s tenure in San Francisco is over, but the Giants will continue seeing him pretty frequently in the coming years.

Snell is signing a five-year, $182 million deal with the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, according to multiple reports.

Snell, who opted out of his two-year deal with the Giants in early November, confirmed the news on his Instagram, posting an edited image of himself wearing a Dodgers uniform.

The Giants’ odds of competing with the Dodgers and Padres in the NL West were already slim, but Los Angeles’ addition of Snell only creates a further disparity between San Francisco and its Southern California rival. Snell stands to join one of the most talented rotations in the league, a unit that will likely include Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.

In his lone season with the Giants, Snell went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA with 145 strikeouts over 104 innings, tossing a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.

Snell’s tenure in San Francisco started slowly, the product of him signing late and sustaining multiple injuries during the first half. In the second half, by contrast, Snell was one of the best pitchers in baseball, position a 1.45 ERA over 12 starts with 103 strikeouts over 68 1/3 innings.

The left-hander was scheduled to start San Francisco’s penultimate game of the season, but opted out of the start given his looming free agency.

“I love it here. I think we can be really, really good. I see a lot of promise. And I enjoy being here,” Snell said at the time. “I want to be somewhere that wants me and loves me and will invest in me to be the best player I can be to help them win. I like it here. I hope it’s here. We’ll see.”