Dodgers appeared to have avoided costly free agency misstep after recent rumor surfaces

If you thought the Dodgers were in anyway tapped out following their $1 billion+ offseason, or had gotten their fill of superstar additions, you thought wrong. LA netted baseball's unicorn, golden boy, and so on in Shohei Ohtani, the most exciting pitcher to come over from Japan in MLB's history in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and a Cy Young-caliber starter with a lot to prove in Tyler Glasnow — but new reports suggest that they still weren't totally done, and that the front office truly had carte blanche to go out and get whoever would get them another World Series victory.

According to Jon Heyman, the Dodgers reportedly made a late attempt to sign 2023 NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell in the offseason before he eventually signed with the Giants.

That idea looks great on paper, but given the way Snell's season has gone with the Giants so far, the Dodgers seem better off for losing that chase, even if it was to a hated division rival. Snell went onto the 15-day IL on Monday with a groin strain, but not before starting the season late and posting a 9.51 ERA over just six starts.

Dodgers reportedly attempted to sign Blake Snell before he signed with Giants

Snell's protracted free agency was thanks to the misguided and ultimately unsuccessful dealings of superagent Scott Boras, who failed to get any of his high profile clients the expensive, multi-year contracts they were angling for. Every member of the "Boras Five" signed well into spring training, and Snell, Jordan Montgomery, and JD Martinez all started the season late after missing all of camp. Montgomery has since dropped Boras in favor of Wasserman agent Joel Wolfe, and Snell attributed his bad season start to the missed opportunity to get warmed up during spring.

In his last appearance before going onto the IL, Snell only pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up three earned runs (including a homer) against the Yankees in the last game of what would end up being a decisive sweep of the Giants.

LA dodged a bullet on this one, and the biggest takeaway isn't that they missed out on a two-time Cy Young winner, but rather — as Heyman notes — they clearly have more money in the budget. It bodes well for the upcoming trade deadline, when the Dodgers will hopefully be looking for more bullpen support and bigger bats to fill out the end of the lineup.