Blake Snell traded to Padres in five-player deal with Rays

Blake Snell is on the move to the San Diego Padres.

The Padres and Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a trade on Sunday night involving the former AL Cy Young Award winner. According to The Athletic’s Dennis Len, the Rays would be receiving pitcher Luis Patiño, Francisco Mejia, Blake Hunt and Cole Wilcox in the deal.

BREAKING: The Padres have an agreement in place to acquire Blake Snell from the Rays, sources tell @JCTSports, @Ken_Rosenthal and me. Luis Patiño, Francisco Mejía, Blake Hunt and Cole Wilcox would head to Tampa. Deal pending review of medical records.

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) December 28, 2020

This report comes as no surprise.

There was talk for over a month that the Rays were open to dealing Snell. The southpaw pitcher has three years and $42 million remaining on his current contract. The Rays tend to keep low payrolls, which explains why they would be open to dealing Snell.

The Padres are getting a top pitcher on a reasonable salary at a time when they are emerging with a strong, young core. This should really help make the Padres even more of a contender.

Snell has gone 42-30 with a 3.24 ERA in his career. The 28-year-old won the Cy Young Award in 2018.