With the Los Angeles Dodgers getting ready to head out to spring training in Arizona, will they have all of their starting pitchers set to start work?

That might be the case for most of them, but left-hander Blake Snell might not be among them.

Now, Snell will report, of course, for spring training. Yet there's some doubt as to whether he'll be ready to work from the get-go in Arizona.

Snell, on Thursday, spoke with longtime Dodgers beat reporter Jack Harris of The California Post about his offseason and his expectations for the 2026 MLB season.

"I was happy I was able to pitch the whole time," Snell told Harris at a Dodgers charity event at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. "But it was tough. You want to ramp up, but I gotta take my time and get healthy."

Snell is a two-time Cy Young Award winner. He also missed time last season because of a shoulder injury, but came back in the summer to help the Dodgers en route to their second straight World Series championship.

Snell made it clear that he's going to take it nice and slow from the start of spring training. He admitted that he felt pretty tired after the long Dodgers' postseason run, and making sure that he's in tip-top shape matters a lot to him.

"I feel like I’m doing the right thing," Snell said. "I feel good. I’ve been throwing. It feels better. In the postseason, I gave everything I had for that. But on the front end of spring, I’ll have to be patient and let my body get to 100%.

"That’s what I’m learning talking with (the team)," Snell said. "Don’t rush. Be patient. Make sure you’re 100%. And that’s what’s awesome about the organization. They really are focused on your health and well-being."

Beyond Snell, though, the Dodgers, including manager Dave Roberts, will be keeping their eyes on fellow starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto also worked a lot in the postseason, so he might also need to hit spring training at a slower level, too.

While this news might alarm some Dodgers fans and onlookers, it's actually a pretty smart move. Snell can take his time ramping up for the regular season. He doesn't need to go all out at the start of spring training.

It would be wise for the ballclub to let Snell work his way into shape. It's quite obvious that Snell is paying attention to his body, along with his arm strength. Snell probably wants to be all set when the regular season begins.

Roberts needs to have his full arsenal of starting pitchers healthy and in shape. Should one of them miss time at the start of the 2026 MLB season, though, it's going to put some pressure on that rotation.

Having to think about getting substitute starting pitchers so early is one headache that Roberts probably doesn't want to have at all.

Let's see how Snell performs in spring training and not allow too many worries to fill Dodgers fans' minds. Roberts and pitching coach Mark Prior will watch them all very carefully.

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