Blake Snell isn’t kidding. Scott Boras isn’t kidding. The Los Angeles Dodgers don’t do anything stupid.

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s reassuring to know that the Los Angeles Angels aren’t the only team signing free agents. The five-year, $182 million contract that Snell signed with the Dodgers on Tuesday night is considered the first really big move of the offseason. The deal is still pending, and once official, its impact will ripple across the entire sport.

Let’s start with the World Series champion Dodgers, because everything in baseball seems to start with the Dodgers these days. Their rotation pieces in 2025 include a combination of Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin, as well as one free agent they’re almost certain to sign, Clayton Kershaw, and another free agent they’re considered a frontrunner , Roki Sasaki.

None of these pitchers come close to being a workhorse. But between Snell, the pitchers returning from injuries, and possibly Kershaw and Sasaki, the Dodgers are bringing in almost an entirely new starting group while only subtracting Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty. Of course, the way the Dodgers are burning through pitchers, they could still come up short in October.

Ohtani, May and Gonsolin have had major elbow surgeries. Kershaw is coming off surgery on his left toe and left knee and a season in which he started just seven times. Yamamoto missed nearly three months with a right rotator cuff strain. Glasnow was unable to pitch after August 11 due to tendinitis in his elbow. And if Sasaki is signed by the Dodgers, he will be treated with care; He is only 23 years old and his career high in innings in Japan is 129 1/3.

So adding a pitcher like Snell was practically a necessity. And while the Dodgers will remain in the race for free-agent outfielder Juan Soto, signing him was a long shot from the start, if only to drive up the price for the other bidders. The return of Teoscar Hernández seems a more realistic possibility. After that, the Dodgers can bring back Kiké Hernández, upgrade the bullpen and call it a day.

Snell has never thrown more than 180 2/3 innings in a season. But by agreeing to the terms so quickly, he will at least give himself a better chance of success than he did last offseason, when he didn’t finalize his deal with the San Francisco Giants until March 19. This time, according to a source when informed of his talks, Snell intended to “sign as early as possible.”

Smart move. Snell’s shortened spring training bothered him early in the 2024 season and he landed on the injured list twice. But after getting hot again in the second half and posting a 1.23 ERA in his last 14 starts, he opted out of his two-year, $62 million contract with the Giants. Now he’ll actually get the deal he’s always wanted.

Adding Snell’s $32 million salary from last season to his Dodgers guarantee gives him $214 million over six years, although some of the new money is deferred. His average salary of $36.4 million with the Dodgers would be the fifth highest for a non-Shohei Ohtani pitcher, just ahead of Gerrit Cole’s. And although Snell spoke to the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and other clubs, he is from the Seattle area. He preferred to stay on the West Coast.

So Snell wins, and by this point in the offseason, his agent Boras wins, too. The Boras Four last winter consisted of Snell and three other free agents who signed on Feb. 25 or later and accepted shorter contracts with high average salaries. Two of the four, Snell and third baseman Matt Chapman, have since negotiated better deals. Chapman agreed to a six-year, $151 million extension with the Giants in early September, bringing his total payout in the two contracts to seven years and $171 million.

A third member of the Boras Four, Cody Bellinger, exercised his $27.5 million player option with the Chicago Cubs and will remain with the team with either a $25 million player option or a $5 million buyout in 2026 received dollars. The fourth, left-hander Jordan Montgomery, left Boras for Wasserman and exercised his player option with the Arizona Diamondbacks for $22.5 million.

Boras attributed the delays in his signings last offseason to market conditions; A number of teams were concerned about potential declines in their local TV revenue. These concerns continue to exist for many clubs, but most big teams are prepared to spend big. Boras’ free agent class is also bigger and better than it was a year ago. It’s his job to take players off the board and keep the line moving.

On Monday, Boras agreed to a three-year, $63 million contract with the Angels for free-agent left-hander Yusei Kikuchi. On Tuesday, he inked a deal for Snell that exceeded the four-year forecast of $110 million The Athletics Tim Britton in both length and average annual value. Still coming for Boras: Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso as well as Sean Manaea and Ha-Seong Kim.

No more fooling around. The Winter Meetings are said to be a Boras festival, starting with Soto. The Dodgers delivered the first big blow on Tuesday night. It won’t be the last time, not since the Red Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, among others, are full of anticipation.

(Top photo of Blake Snell, left, and his agent Scott Boras: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)