"I hate the Dodgers"; "Shohei Ohtani GM era only beginning" - Fans fuming over Blake Snell's $52,000,000 signing bonus for joining LA side

The LA Dodgers inked Blake Snell to a five-year deal for $182 million. They also agreed to a $52 million signing bonus, which limits the amount that is due on the contract. The Dodgers have played around with the tax threshold in the past and Snell's bonus indicates that they're doing it again.

Freddie Freeman's contract was partially deferred. Shohei Ohtani's $700 million deal had most of the money deferred, keeping the Dodgers under the tax threshold and giving them more financial flexibility.

MLB fans were stunned when this happened with Ohtani last year. The team went on to win the World Series but is still aggressive with some wrinkles in the MLB's financial rules. Fans aren't happy that this is what's going on.

"When [Steve] Cohen spent money they stopped him with stupid ass rules. Now do the same MLB with the stupid deferral bs that’s ruining the game. I get if they do deferrals for a guy getting cut. It should NOT be in a contract to manipulate the tax," one fan said.

"At some point commissioner needs to step in," another fan wrote.

"Lmaooooo let me guess. 20 million a year deferred? What a sick f*****g joke," one fan said.

"The league needs to step in at some point. If Cohen tried doing this, they’d try and force him to sell the team," a fan wrote.

The Dodgers are already the World Series favorites for 2025 and have now added a two-time Cy Young winner to the mix.

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Dodgers run laps on MLB teams with Blake Snell signing

It may seem like the LA Dodgers is the only team spending a lot of money recently and that most big-name free agents or contracts have been involved with them. That's because they largely have.

The Dodgers landed Blake Snell (Imagn)

Blake Snell signed a $182 million deal just a year after the Dodgers spent over $1 billion combined on Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. In the last two offseasons, one of which has barely begun, the Dodgers have signed five $100+ million deals.

That's the same number as the rest of the 29 teams combined. There is no team spending quite like the Dodgers right now.