The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to trade their ace pitcher Blake Snell to the San Diego Padres in exchange for prospects.
The Rays are continuing to trade away their pitchers that helped lead them to the World Series last season. The latest is agreeing to a trade that will deal away Snell to San Diego for prospects. Snell, who is arguably their ace pitcher, won the CY Young award during the 2018 season, finishing the season with 21 wins, 5 losses and an ERA of 1.89. Last season, Snell won four games, two losses and had an ERA of 3.24 during the shortened 2020 season.
For the Padres, they are continuing to strengthen their pitching rotation by agreeing to trade for the former CY Young winner. The Padres are looking to strengthen and hope to threaten the Los Angeles Dodgers for supremacy in the National League. Last season, San Diego reached the NLCS to face the Dodgers but were promptly swept by Los Angeles.
In an effort to have a dangerous bullpen, they are sacrificing their prospects to do so. In this trade, they are sending Luis Patino, Cole Wilcox, Blake Hunt and Francisco Mejia.
Patino was the Padre’s number three prospect and 23 overall ranked prospect in the league.
Wilcox is a 21-year-old pitcher who was drafted with the third-round pick by San Diego. He was the seventh-ranked prospect for the team. In his final season with the University of Georgia, he had a 1.57 ERA and three wins.
Hunt is a 22-year-old catcher who had a batting average of .255 and five home runs in 89 games for the Class A Fort Wayne.
Mejia struggled to hit as he only hit .077 in 17 games for Tampa Bay, last season.
The trade is not official until all players pass a physical.
