On December 27th, the Padres made a splash and acquired former Cy Young winner Blake Snell from the Rays in exchange for Francisco Mejia, Blake Hunt, Cole Wilcox, and top pitching prospect Luis Patiño. The Padres now have a loaded pitching staff that includes Chris Paddack, Dinelson Lamet, Zach Davies, prospect Mackenzie Gore, Mike Clevenger (who will return in 2022 after undergoing Tommy John Surgery), and last but not least, Blake Snell. So, who won this trade?
The answer right now is the Padres. Usually, the winner of the trade is the team that acquires the star. Last season, Snell went 4-2 with a 3.24 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 11 starts. In his entire major league career, he is 42-30 with a 3.24 ERA and 648 strikeouts through 556 innings over 108 starts.
The Padres are looking to build a team that can take down the defending champion Dodgers. They matched up against the Dodgers in the 2020 NLDS and were swept. The Padres have an excellent core of players including Fernando Tatis Jr and Manny Machado in the infield and Tommy Pham in the outfield. They also add an ace to a lineup that had its best team ERA since 2014. The Padres are now a premier threat in the NL. How did the 2020 American League winners do in this trade?
The answer long term is we do not know yet, but we can make predictions. In recent history, it seems that the Rays seem to win the trades they make. For example, when the Rays acquired Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows for Chris Archer or the David Price trade where the Rays acquired the highly regarded prospect, Willy Adames.
The big piece the Rays got in return was RHP Luis Patiño. Patiño is regarded as one of the best prospects in baseball right now. In the minors, he has a 2.35 ERA through 234 innings pitched and 279 strikeouts. With these extraordinary stats, the Rays expect production from Patiño in the near future
Another piece the Rays acquired was Francisco Mejia. Mejia has had a rough start to his career and the 2020 season did not help to hit only .077 with 1 home run. Mejia will hope to revitalize his career in Tampa Bay.
I think both teams can hold their heads high on this trade. Padres get another stud pitcher for the next 3 years and the Rays get a highly praised prospect they can use for another 6 years once he reaches a major league level. It does sting for the Rays to lose Morton to the Braves in free agency and Snell, but the Rays still have a lot of talent around them to make a run at the AL pennant again. The Padres are looking to get their first World Series title in franchise history. With this addition, I think through the next 3 years, this is their chance and they have a good chance to take it.
My guess is the Padres will be favored to win their division. They weren’t far behind the Dodgers last season. Seems the Padres are going all out to win it all. For them, the future is NOW. In 3-5 years the Rays may prove to have gained the most from the trade. However, I think the trade just moved the Yankees to the undisputed favorite in the division. Had the Rays kept their team in tact I think they would have had a good shot at getting back to the World Series. The trade was definitely a win for the Padres, but we will have to wait and see how the Rays fare.