Turns out Blake Snell’s contract was like the last game he pitched: the Rays just went that far with him.
In a family move for the franchise, trading a high-end headline, Tampa Bay reached an agreement with San Diego to swap Snell for four potential customers, highlighted by right-hander Luis Patino.
After arguably their most successful season: winning the AL East at the Yankee favorites and reaching Game 6 of the World Series before losing to the Dodgers, the Rays have suffered a dismantling of their powerful top of the rotation. Charlie Morton signed a one-year, $ 15 million contract with the Braves and now Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young winner, has been handed out to the Padres. That leaves Tyler Glasnow of his big three.
But this is the way of the rays. They are constantly striving to manage their payroll and keep their organization full of young talent. Among others, the Rays had previously traded top-tier pieces such as Chris Archer, David Price and James Shields.
In Patino, Tampa Bay receives a pitcher that MLB.com ranks as the 22nd best candidate for the majors, even after its eleven-appearance cameo (a start) in 2020 produced an ERA of 5.19. Patino and the rest of the transport (captures Francisco Mejia and Blake Hunt and right pitcher Cole Wilcox) join one of the deepest farming systems of the majors. It also removes the remaining three years of $ 39 million in the Snell deal. This gives the Rays a chance to further tackle their major league list with money if they want to. It also leaves Kevin Kiermaier (two years at $ 26 million and available) as the only Ray with more than $ 7 million in 2021.
Snell’s final appearance with the Rays created arguably the biggest controversy of the postseason. The left-handers had a successful closing with one of the sixth games in World Series 6. But when No. 9 batsman Austin Barnes made the selection, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash pushed Snell to continue with the policy of not letting him face a training a third time. Although the top three in the Dodgers lineup (Mookie Betts, Corey Seager and Justin Turner) were 0 for 6 with six attacks against Snell in the game.
Nick Anderson came in and two batters later the Dodgers had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead on the way to winning their first championship since 1988.
The Dodgers resisted the Padres in both the NL West and the Division Series. San Diego faced injuries to its two key starters, Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet, in the playoffs and Clevinger will miss the 2021 season after needing Tommy John surgery. So the Research Fathers were looking for another high-end beginner and, as was the case with Clevinger during the 2020 season, they used their deep farm system to get one.
In this case, it’s Snell, who is only 28 and, in his last start, dominated the Dodgers until the Rays gave him a quick hook. With three seasons left on a five-year contract, Snell was quickly eliminated by the Rays.