It turns out that Blake Snell’s contract was like the last game he launched – the Rays would only go so far with him.
In a family move for the franchise – the negotiation of a high-end starter – Tampa Bay reached an agreement with San Diego to exchange Snell for four potential customers, highlighted by the powerful Luis Patino.
In the aftermath of their arguably most successful season of all time – beating AL East over the highly favored Yankees and making it to the World Series Game 6 before losing to the Dodgers – the Rays went through a breakdown of their powerful top of the rotation. Charlie Morton signed a one-year, $ 15 million contract with Braves and now Snell, 2018 winner AL Cy Young, has been traded to Padres. That leaves only Tyler Glasnow of his Big Three.
But this is the Ray way. They are constantly working to manage their payroll and keep their organization full of young talent. Among others, the Rays had previously traded high-end pieces such as Chris Archer, David Price and James Shields.
In Patino, Tampa Bay receives a pitcher who is ranked the 22nd best contender in the majors by MLB.com, even after his 11 appearance (a match) in 2020 produced an ERA of 5.19. Patino and the rest of the group (catchers Francisco Mejia and Blake Hunt and successful pitcher Cole Wilcox) form one of the majors’ deepest agricultural systems. It also removes the remaining three years of $ 39 million in the Snell business. This gives Rays the chance to further target their major league squad with cash, if they so desire. This also leaves Kevin Kiermaier (two years with $ 26 million and available) as the only Ray with more than $ 7 million in 2021.
Snell’s final appearance with the Rays arguably created the biggest controversy of the postseason. The lefty had a one-hit shutout with one from the sixth World Series game. But when hitter No. 9 Austin Barnes chose, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash pulled Snell to maintain the policy of not letting him face a lineup a third time. Despite that, the top three on the Dodgers’ schedule – Mookie Betts, Corey Seager and Justin Turner – went 0-to-6 with six eliminations against Snell in the game.
Nick Anderson came in, and two hitters later, the Dodgers turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 lead on the way to securing their first championship since 1988.
The Dodgers resisted the Fathers at NL West and the Division Series. San Diego was dealing with injuries to its two starters, Mike Clevinger and Dinelson Lamet, in the playoffs and Clevinger will miss the 2021 season after needing Tommy John’s surgery. Therefore, the decided standards were looking for another high quality beginner and – as with Clevinger during the 2020 season – they used their deep farm system to get a
In this case, it is Snell, who is only 28 years old and – in his last start – dominated the Dodgers until the Rays gave him a quick hook. With three seasons remaining on a five-year contract, Snell was quickly removed again by the Rays.