Vinnie Pasquantino has extremely relatable reaction to Dodgers signing Blake Snell

Major League Baseball fans are only too familiar with the drama of Blake Snell in free agency. The saga dragged on for all of last offseason before the starter signed a two-year, $62 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on March 19, and now that he's exercised the deal's opt-out clause after the first season, Snell is back on the market for round 2.

On November 26, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that Snell had reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers on a five-year, $182 million contract, pending physical, and Kansas City Royals' first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was quick to have an extremely relatable reaction.

Reposting Passan's post, Pasquantino simply added the "Rolling on the Floor Laughing" emoji, seemingly mocking the Dodgers' latest mega-deal — a sentiment shared by many across MLB.

It's not that Snell isn't deserving of a big deal. He took a moment to shake off the cobwebs after a late start in 2024, but still ended the season with a 3.12 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 145 strikeouts in 104 innings of work. The season prior, Snell took home the second Cy Young Award of his career after leading MLB in ERA (2.25) and posting a career-best 234 strikeouts. He opted out of his contract with the Giants because he knew he could secure a multi-year deal in free agency, so it's not surprising that he's got it.

The frustration — both from fans and, presumably, Pasquantino — is that the money is coming from the Dodgers, yet again.

LA Dodgers to sign yet another mega-deal

Now it's the Dodgers, but before the 2023 season, it was the New York Mets. Even after their 12-year, $315 million deal with shortstop Carlos Correa infamously fell through when there was an issue with his physical, the Mets' 2023 tax payroll totaled $374.7 million — the highest in MLB history — with an additional $100.8 million owed in tax penalties.

Because there's no fixed salary cap in MLB, the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) — often called the "luxury tax" — is the only thing stopping big-money franchises from spending endless amounts of money to extend their advantage over smaller-market teams. This system requires teams to keep their annual payroll under the year's predetermined threshold or be taxed on every dollar they go over. In 2023, the CBT threshold was $233 million. It increased to $237 million in 2024, and next season, it will be $241 million.

In 2023, the Mets' paid more just in CBT penalties — $100.8 million — than the entire payrolls of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Oakland Athletics. As such, it's quite clear that the CBT system has done very little to deter the big teams from spending exorbitantly, and Pasquantino's mocking comment at Snell's new deal with the Dodgers stems from annoyance at the team's spending habits that have swirled for years.

Last offseason, the Dodgers went on a $1.4 billion spending spree. Along with one-year deals for outfielder Jason Heyward, starter Clayton Kershaw, and relievers Joe Kelly and Ryan Brasier, the team signed two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract, and Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract. The Dodgers then acquired pitcher Tyler Glasnow in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, then signed him to a five-year, $135 million extension. Outfielder Teoscar Hernández was then signed to a one-year, $23.5 million contract, and pitcher James Paxton got a one-year, $11 million deal.

As if the mega-deals weren't enough to gawk at in themselves, the Dodgers' contract with Ohtani was structured in a way that would see $68 million per season deferred until after the deal's conclusion — to be paid out from 2034 to 2043 — so that the team could continue spending to bolster the roster in the short-term without worrying about cash flow to pay the contract. The deferrals also gave the Dodgers more flexibility in navigating the CBT system.

With their newly-bolstered roster, the Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, prevailing over the New York Yankees in five games. The Dodgers had the second-highest tax payroll in MLB at $339.5 million, and the Yankees had the third-highest at $312.9 million. They were only beaten out by — you guessed it — the Mets, whose 2024 tax payroll was $348.6 million.

For reference, the Royals' 2024 tax payroll was $161.1 million, and that was bolstered by their signing an 11-year, $288.7 million deal — the largest in franchise history — with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. last offseason. In 2023, Kansas City's tax payroll was $119.4 million.

Dodgers' new deal with Snell includes deferred money and signing bonus

The Dodgers' reported five-year, $182 million deal with Snell includes deferred money and a $52 million signing bonus, according to ESPN's Alden González, with MLB.com's Mark Feinsand explaining on X how this will affect the team's CBT's balance.

"For CBT purposes, 20% of Snell's signing bonus count toward each year of the deal, so it doesn't impact the average annual value," Feinsand wrote. "The key is how much money (bonus & salary) is deferred, though reports that the Dodgers' CBT figure is expected to be $32-33M per year. If Snell's CBT AAV is $32-33 million per year, that puts the present-day value of the deal in the $160-165 million range."

This deal, as well as how it's structured to deliberately navigate CBT penalties, is just evidence that the big-market teams are going to keep locking the smaller-market teams out of contention for top stars. Any team in MLB could've used Snell, and the fact that the Dodgers landed yet another premier player with their seemingly unlimited piles of money is frustrating.

Still, there's no crying in baseball, and unless MLB decide to add a hard salary cap tomorrow, money will always run the league. Perhaps the best thing for Royals fans to do is take Pasquantino's advice — laugh.