The Dodgers Add Tanner Scott To A Loaded Pitching Staff

The Los Angeles Dodgers added to their embarrassment of riches by signing Tanner Scott to the largest reliever contract of the offseason. He will earn $72 million over a four-year deal according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, and The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports some amount of that will be deferred.

Scott was the consensus best relief pitcher on the market this winter. The 30-year-old left-hander pitched for the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres in 2024—he was traded for prospects on July 30—and made his first All-Star appearance. Overall, he recorded a 1.75 ERA over 72 games and 72 innings, striking out 84 batters while giving up only 45 hits. He was just as dominant in 2023 when he posted a 2.35 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 78 innings and a 0.99 WHIP.

He uses just two pitches to blow hitters away. His fastball averaged 97 mph and he threw it 59.2% of the time last season. He usually finished batters off with a slider that averaged 88.5 mph. Even when opponents managed to make contact, they rarely hit the ball hard. His average 84.3 mph exit velocity allowed was the second-lowest mark in MLB.

It didn’t appear that the Dodgers needed another elite reliever, but that didn’t preclude them from building on their strengths. Scott will join a bullpen featuring two other pitchers who had ERAs below 2.00 last year—Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia—and four who averaged at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings—Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Treinen, and Vesia.

The reigning champions have aggressively added to their pitching staff, though Scott is the first major bullpen acquisition. After signing Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract in November, they won the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes earlier this weekend. On top of that, they expect Shohei Ohtani to return to the mound this season.

The details of the deferrals in Scotts contract haven’t been released yet, but such arrangements are a recurring theme in the way the Dodgers conduct business. Snell’s contract also includes them. So does outfielder Teoscar Hernández’s deal, who was re-signed in free agency. They agreed to extensions featuring deferrals with catcher Will Smith in March and center fielder Tommy Edman this winter.

All of this was possible because of Ohtani’s unprecedented contract, which was the largest of all with by far the most deferred compensation. His 10-year, $700 million deal pays him just $2 million per year over the life of the agreement while deferring the other $68 million.

There is a clause in Ohtani’s contract stipulating that the team must use the savings from his deferrals to build and maintain a competitive roster. After leading MLB with 98 victories and winning the World Series—due in no small part to his MVP season as a designated hitter in which he didn’t pitch at all, but hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases—the Dodgers have certainly satisfied their contractual requirement with all of these high-profile additions. That includes Scott, whose signing perpetuates the trend of the best players in baseball flocking to Los Angeles.