Hall of Fame Bound? Snell, Edman, and Utley Make Their Cases

Back after Thanksgiving weekend, we’ve had time to digest both the food and the pair of Dodgers five-year contracts signed last week.

Blake Snell will have his introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., after signing for $182 million. Joe Sheehan in his newsletter pointed out Snell’s intermittent acehood over the course of his career, but also praised the Dodgers for spending money trying to improve the team.

From Sheehan:

The money doesn’t matter, though it’s worth mentioning that the Dodgers, well over the tax threshold again, are paying 110% on the dollar for Snell’s services. This signing ensures they will be over the tax threshold for a fifth straight year, over it by at least $60 million. The Dodgers may again pay more in product-investment tax than some teams do on their payroll. They may again pay more in net local revenue sharing than some teams do on their payroll.

You may not want to hear this, but I am impressed by the way Guggenheim Partners is doubling down on putting the best team on the field. Over the last ten non-pandemic years, the Dodgers have averaged 3.8 million tickets sold a year, an absurd run of success at the gate. The Dodgers are trying to give those fans, who pay some of the highest ticket prices in baseball, another championship team. They’re putting the fans’ money on the field.

Unlike Snell, Tommy Edman was already in house, but instead of having just one season before free agency the utility man will now have five years after his $74 million deal.

“I think a lot of the sticker shock over the Edman deal has little to do with the going rate for a utility player,” wrote Michael Baumann at FanGraphs. “This might look like a lot of money — I mean, let’s be real, it is a lot of money — but it’s a fair price for a guy who can play multiple premium defensive positions and put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 WAR per season.”

Chase Utley is one of eight Dodgers on the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot, in his second year on the writers’ ballot after receiving 28.8 percent support in his first year. Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs profiled Utley and analyzed what will likely have to be a steady climb to get inducted into Cooperstown.

While the writers’ ballot results will be announced on January 21, we’ll get a more immediate results from the Classic Era ballot this Sunday night at the winter meetings. Among the eight players in that group, whose primary contributions came before 1980, are former Dodgers Steve Garvey and Tommy John.

Election from the Classic Era ballot required 12 votes from a panel of 16 people. That group of deciders was unveiled on Monday, split between Hall of Famers (Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Tony Pérez, Lee Smith, Ozzie Smith, and Joe Torre), league executives (Sandy Alderson, Terry McGuirk, Dayton Moore, Arte Moreno, and Brian Sabean), and longtime media members or historians (Bob Elliott, Leslie Heaphy, Steve Hirdt, Dick Kaegel and Larry Lester).

The Classic Era ballot results will be announced at 4:30 p.m. PT Sunday on MLB Network.

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