The Fathers made a move to replace their ace.
The team on Sunday night was close to finalizing an agreement to acquire Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell in exchange for Luis Patiño, Francisco Mejía, Cole Wilcox and Blake Hunt. Several sources confirmed the deal, which was first reported by The Athletic.
Snell moves into place on the Fathers’ rotation left empty when Mike Clevinger underwent Tommy John surgery last month.
The rotation of the Fathers would apparently be led by Snell, Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies and Chris Paddack, with the final slot to be determined in spring training.
Snell, 28, won the American League’s Cy Young award in 2018 and has an ERA of 2.85 and a WHIP of 1.10 for the past three seasons. He had 3.24 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 11 games (50 entries) last season.
The southpaw owes $ 39 million over the next three years, including $ 10.5 million in 2021.
The cost for Snell was three of the 14 best potential customers of the Padres and Mejía, previously a highly praised potential customer who was injured for most of 2020 and would have been a reserve in 2021.
Patiño, who had an ERA of 5.19 at 17 1/3 innings in his first season at the championships in 2020, was third, according to MLB.com.
Wilcox, a right-handed pitcher who was taken in the third round (80º overall) in this year’s project, perspective 7 was considered. His $ 3.3 million signing bonus was a record for a choice in the third round and was comparable to the money recommended for the 20º general choice.
Hunt, a catcher who was selected 69º overall in 2017, it was ranked 14º.
The Padres general manager, AJ Preller, talked about the possibility of the Padres entering the season with the pitchers they had, but it was no secret that he was working on the phones looking for a business partner. Snell had been on the Fathers’ wish list since at least last month.
Although much of the Fathers’ focus over the past four years has been building a farm system that would apparently be able to perpetually replenish the major league squad, the Snell acquisition is added to the list of significant moves involving renowned players that Preller did in the past three years – joining Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado and Clevinger.
Snell’s 2.85 ERA over the past three seasons is the sixth lowest among pitchers who have launched at least 300 entries. But its 337 2/3 innings in that period are behind 59 others.
Snell has made more than 24 games just once in his four full seasons in the big league – in his year at Cy Young, when he was 21-5 with an ERA of 1.89 out of 31 matches. He reached his career record in 180 2/3 entries that season.
He lost time in 2019 due to surgery to remove “loose bodies” on his elbow. He was more than six entries just twice in 23 matches in 2019.
Rays manager Kevin Cash was widely criticized for his decision to remove Snell with a knockout in the sixth entry, with Snell only allowing his second hit in this year’s World Series game 6.