Trading Blake Snell STILL HAUNTS The Tampa Bay Rays Fanbase

Trading Blake Snell STILL HAUNTS The Tampa Bay Rays Fanbase

It’s irresponsible to great trades after they happen, but after five years, that’s another thing. Let’s discuss the Blake Snail Trade. You are locked on Rays, your daily Tampa Bay Rays podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into the lockdown raise podcast. The Lockdown Race is part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And we are Kevin and Ulissiz, and we are Lifelong Race fans who have been podcasting about the Tampa Bay Rays since 2019. Later on today’s show, the playoffs show that Shoi Otani is one of one actually could have been a Rays icon if you believe it. Uh, in a few minutes, the Rays have let a lot more than a few solid players get away in recent years. And the most notable of which is Blake Snell. And we’re going to talk about all of that thanks to Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Kevin, we got to be serious. We got to be straight. The race trading Blake Snell in 2020 looks worse every bleeping year. And I’ll be quite honest with you. We both feel the same way about trades. You can’t judge them the next day. Yeah, you can for fodder from for banter, but if you really want to grade a trade, you have to let it simmer. You have to let it stew. Especially with the way that the rays do trades when sometimes you have guys from the lower levels of the miners being involved. You got to see them grow. Well, yes, the it’s been five years, so I don’t want to hear from anybody now saying like it’s there’s there’s still no no it’s been five years. We can grade the Blake Snell trade and it looks awful, Kevin. It does indeed. Uh Blake Snell is deep into the playoffs this year doing magical things for the Dodgers. uh has a sub one erra and uh is showing that he can pitch more than five innings or six innings. You can roll him out for seven or eight innings if you so very choose. And uh if you believe it, um Blake Snell has quite the postseason track record as well. And and again, not saying that if Blake Snell was on the Rays 2025 roster that they would have made the playoffs, but in previous years, if he was on the roster, maybe the Rays could have gone deeper into the playoffs and made a run for something. But it it’s so funny because we looked back at that trade and it was always unfortunate to see that, you know, Blake Snell ultimately left the organization and I think we were kind of in agreement that uh after the move by Kevin Cash in the 2020 playoffs where he was pulled from game six of the World Series, I I think it it was a matter of time that Blake Snell was upset, unhappy, and he probably didn’t want to continue on with uh with the organization. He he needed to find a a change and a fresh look. Um and when that trade was made, Blake Snell for for prospects, you know, people said, “Oh man, look at these prospects. All top 100 guys, we we’ve got our core. Couple years from now, we’re going to be set. We’re going to be solid.” And it’s been anything but that. Uh if you look at the return for the Blake Snell trade back in late 2020. Yeah. And let’s remember that trade gave us Luis Patinho, Elrico, Francisco Mahia. Um we had Cole Wilcox and Blake Hunt, front of the pod. Now Kevin, let’s go one by one. Tell me, where is Luis Patinho right now? Luis Patinho, I don’t think is playing baseball anywhere. He is a free agent and he didn’t do much after he left the Rays organization, bouncing around from the White Socks to the Padres’s and ultimately uh compiled a negative career war. Uh we thought that he was going to be a frontline starter in the Rays organization and he wasn’t anything but and when he left the organization he wasn’t anything but that as well. Now can you tell me about Francisco Mahia? What is he up to? Uh Francisco Mia also uh I believe last I checked he’s kicking around in the miners. Uh we remember he had a couple you know solidish years with the Rays but nothing to make him stick around long term which tells you something that you know the the Rays are so desperate for couching help that if Francisco Mahia can’t stick around on the Rays roster then that’s a problem. Tell me about Blake Hunt. Blake Hunt, friend of the program, uh very astute individual. Uh he has been kicking around in the minor, still hasn’t made the majors after being drafted in 2017, and of course, he is no longer a part of the Rays organization. Last I checked, he’s part of the Mariners organization. Now, he did have a good season in AAA, but it’s going to be tough to crack the uh major league roster at the catching position for the Seattle Mariners. But again, a guy who um did nothing for the Rays Big League club. And last but not least, tell me about Cole Wilcox. Uh injuries upon injuries upon injuries, Tommy John surgery, uh difficulties with surgery and uh he did make an appearance in 2025. How did that appearance go? How did that appearance go? Did it go well? Uh whatever the opposite of well is, uh that that’s what happened. and he gave up seven runs in I think one inning. Uh that was ultimately a loss for the race. So and these were four I if I recall four top 100 prospects. Yes. And what is So if you are one of those Rays fans that love to put on the cape and defend the front office with all of your might. Good for you. That’s that’s great. That’s who you’ve decided to be. Awesome. Defend this. defend this. You can’t. You can’t. It was a trade made out of a circumstance brought up by onfield production on what happened in game six. Uh I’m sure Blake was incredibly upset. He now might be completely okay with that decision because he’s matured, time has passed, yada yada yada, right? But at the time, you’re livid, man. That was your game. That was your game. Uh so they trade him away for top 100 pro prospects. None of them pan out. You can’t say to us that this was a good trade. You had control a controllable Sai Young award winner in your hands and you couldn’t get anything of value back at all. This is a bad trade. It gets worse each and every year. Yeah. And you can only think of what would have happened in 2021. Look, I’m going to make you I’m going to make race fans so upset right now, but I’m going to do it anyway because if I’m holding on to this, you guys have to do it as well. You trade Blake Snail in 2020. You don’t pick up the option for Charlie Morton for 15 bleeping million dollars. And in 2021, you end up in the playoffs having to put Shane Mlanahan in the fourth inning, right? Luis Batinho, Drew Rasmusson to start, Shane Boss to start, guys who had just become starters that year. Shane Boss making his MLB debut that year, like I think he had three regular season starts before that October one. And Drew Rasmson being converted from a reliever and you give him the ball. Imagine the 2021 World Series run with Charlie Morton and Blake Snell on that roster. It uh it could have been a differencemaker. In fact, uh Blake Snell uh do you want to take a guess at how many innings he’s pitched in the postseason over his big league career? 45 69 and two/3. His erra in those 69 and 2/3 is 258 with 89 strikeouts. So he is extremely dominant when it comes to the playoffs and the regular season for that matter. And what is he doing? He’s he’s laughing in our faces pitching for the Dodgers. And he’s laughing to the bank as well because he’s also signed now through 2029 on a 5year $140 million deal with a team option in 2030. So good for Blake Snail, bad for the Rays. Bad for the race. But you know what? The Blake Snail deal was not the only move that has backfired as of late. There’s nothing like catching a baseball game live. The energy, the crowd, the chance to see your team in person. And you got to use game time. Why? Well, because it’s actually fun to get tickets using game time. You know why? Because there’s no surprise fees. That’s my favorite part of about game time. You don’t just get stuck with all these fees at the end of the the line that you didn’t think that you would get, okay? It’s the price you see that’s the price that you pay. So, take advantage and download the Game Time app today. Create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account and use code L O C K E D O N ML LB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Thank you for joining us at Locked On, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Well, the Rays have made more bad moves in recent years, Kevin, than you might think, and several of them still sting. How about we cherrypick? Yeah. Uh from so many trades, the ones that have stung lately for race fans. Well, trades are just letting players go that they shouldn’t have let go. Um, you know, you mentioned Charlie Morton. That still stings our crawl a little bit. the fact that they declined his $15 million option after the 2020 season, deciding that he wasn’t worth the money at the time. And what does he go on to do? He anchors an Atlanta rotation that ultimately helps them win the 2021 World Series. And he was just a guy who you could check the box of logging 180 plus innings for multiple seasons with the Braves. And I believe this past year was the first year you actually fell apart and broke down. But it it showcased that Charlie Morton still had a left a lot left in the tank and definitely worth that $15 million uh at the time that the Rays could have picked up and done more wonderful things in that 2021 season. Same thing with Travis Darno. And then there’s been other examples as well. I mean guys like in if we want to talk more recently um Joe Ryan is an example, Isach Pedes is an example. We’d love to have Isach Pedes power in the lineup. Um but even going back a little bit further going back to Blake Snell and the Padres’s. Well, what about Jake Croninworth? That was a guy who I think we really let slip out and didn’t get much of a return off. and the return that we did get as part of that trade, Xavier Edwards, uh, we didn’t even get to see him with the Rays. He’s going on and doing big things with the Marlin. So, it really just underscores the idea that the Rays are not infallible. I know we look at them as a top tier scouting development organization and being able to, you know, win on a budget and they’ve done that overall on record. But in recent years, there’s been a lot of question mark moves from them. And you wonder if they didn’t make some of these moves, how the complexion of the franchise would be at this point or at least over the last couple years. Let’s put this into context because I know there’s going to be a YouTube comment that that that might already be written and then they haven’t even gotten to this point of the the show. The Rays front office is top three of MLB and it ain’t number three. Okay, let’s let’s just put that out there. Okay, the Rays could cannot survive in this environment if in this ecosystem where you have uh $300 million payrolls if you are not really good at making trades. Okay, so let’s just be starting from there. But what we’re trying to say is that even if you’re top in the league, you’re going to make mistakes. And these mistakes sometimes seem like could have been avoidable, right? Um the Charlie Morton one for me, it’s kind of odd because you look at you just have to look at your depth and your starting rotation and say, “Okay, well, what is what is the plan here?” Um, Charlie Morton was a guy who gave four more years of really good production after that year. I mean, imagine how badly your rotation idea was for 2021 that in the middle of the season you had to recoup Rasmusen from a reliever to a starter. That’s how much it broke down, man. Yes. Um, and you talk about Jay Cronworth, that was an interesting player. Uh, I know that, you know, I mean, he was a two-way player at the time. And I think in the minors, again, we can’t go all out on minor league stats, but the fact that he was like consistently hitting 350 to 370 everywhere he went, you had to assume he would turn into something, and he ultimately did, being a multipletime all-star and getting a contract extension. Is he a a superstar by any means? No. But he’s a valuable middle infielder that you certainly could use. He’s definitely better than what you got back. I mean, you you not only sent Jay Cronworth, but you also sent Tommy Fam to San Diego and you got back Hunter Renfro, Xavier Edwards, and player to be named later, who was Estabbon Curos. And we know about the Renfro experience. Xavier Edwards, uh the the Rays, I guess, just didn’t give him a fair shake or a fair shot. So, he’s doing solid things with the Mh the Marlins now. And then, you know, Curos was just um minor league fodder, if you will. Xavier Edwards, the famously um nicknamed slaplank prospect by Blake Snell. Yes, he is now a Gold Glove nominated player, by the way, who hits 300 in the show. So, there’s that to be said. Uh in one of his highlight reels is a play that he did against the Rays in Stein Brenerfield. So, uh look, these obviously are going to be an issue. I for example, you mentioned Joe Ryan. I will forever kind of understand that man. Understand that one and I think we both do uh with the Joe Ryan one because at the time you needed a bat and you got Nelson Cruz. He was an all-star. He had 19 home runs. He ended up giving you 11 home runs in two months, one in the playoffs. So like I think people look at the Nelson Cruz trade with a very negative lens uh than what the numbers show. Could have been better. Yes. But it could have been better if you had uh you know some of those other key pieces that we mentioned. Exactly. So uh yeah, I just wanted to show people that I think from other fan bases they’re scared of trading with the Rays, but I think Ray’s fandom needs to understand that it’s all never every trade that that the Rays are going to make is not going to be a winner. There are going to be some sinkers and there are gonna be the ones that are going to sting years later like the ones we just mentioned. Yeah. And even going back further, I I know we haven’t mentioned his name, but Nate Evaldi back in Yeah. 2018 trading him to Boston for Jaylen Beaks. And Jaylen Beaks, you know, did a couple things for the Rays as far as uh, you know, a bulk guy and whatnot, but what did Nate Eavaldi do? He he won two World Series and uh pitched a lot of innings during that time. So yeah, it just goes to show you that again we we can’t one prospect hug and can’t just after a trade or a move is made just can’t say, “Oh, the raise did it again.” No, you have to let some of these things play out before you you make the ultimate decision. Like I I really don’t know how anybody can say that that I mean even at the time we were critical of not bringing back Travis Darno. Yes, we were. bring back Charlie Morton like the Joe Ryan thing we understood it Jake Croninworth was a question mark too was a question mark at the onset and guess what we’ve been doing this podcast for so long folks there are archives there you don’t believe us that we were on this that we were kind of on the quote unquote right side of this go look at the archives go look at the old tapes where Kevin and I do not have gray hairs and are a bit younger and much much happier Uh they uh we said it at the time and we got proved right and it sucks to be proven right when it’s something that it goes against the team that you’re rooting for on a daily basis. Out of these move which one stings the most for you? Darno Morton Croninworthi Perees Joe Ryan maybe someone we didn’t mention. I mean we already talked about Blake Snell is definitely the one that stings the most. Yeah, I think if we take out Blakes now, I think it would be Morton just because of the 2021 like you needed if you have a one-two punch Mlanahan and then Morton or Morton Mlanahan. I mean, that was in the bag that Boston series is in the bag. Yeah. And he was really the heart and soul of not just the pitching staff, but maybe the the team, you know, groundchuck, Charlie Freaking Morton. I mean, the fact that players are creating nicknames for him, uh, it’s it’s a sign that, you know, he was pretty well regarded and revered in the organization. And then it wasn’t just like, oh, he had one more good year after No, he had four. No, he had like four really good ones. So, yeah, that made it really tough for sure. Now, uh, from players that were in the Ray’s grasp to one that could have been a Ray for two months. Let’s talk about Show Otani and him almost being a Rays icon. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer that you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Uh, it undoubtedly makes watching football even more exciting when you’ve got a little extra something riding on the action. And whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel, they make the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Thank you for listening to the Locked on Race podcast and making us your very first listen every day. We appreciate it. We are of course part of the Locked On podcast network. If you didn’t know already, Show Otani is a one of one. He is a unicorn. He is a rare bird in a good way. And if you recall uh a couple years ago, the Rays were actually among the many teams who were aggressively seeking him at the trade deadline. And they were willing to offer three of their top 10 prospects, including junior Canero, which I would have been okay with that if if it meant a couple month rental of Shoe Otani. I mean, I think that alone would would make up for uh you know, giving up some of those prospects there, I guess. Yeah. I mean, like you had that 2023 season, a team that won 99 games. Yeah, you lost Wander Franco at the end. Yeah, you lost uh Shane Mlanahan there at the end, but adding a guy like Show Otani to that team would have been incredible to watch. So, I know that it again, we just listed a whole bunch of trades in segment one and two that didn’t really work for the Rays and how you probably shouldn’t prospect hug that much. The Rays weren’t willing to do the opposite for Shay Otani because it’s what you said. Show Otani is one of one. And what he’s doing, I mean, what he just did in the NLCS, you’re up three, you can clinch and the guy puts on a performance that we have never seen before. Six innings, 10 punches, no runs allowed. And guess what? I’m a jack one. I’m a jack two. I’m a jack three out of the ballpark. One literally out of the ballpark. I mean, we have never seen this before. For me, it’s such an easy answer to say Otani is the most talented baseball player that has ever been and that will ever be. And these comparisons are so flimsy when you look at them. When you say, “Oh, well, he’s no Babe Ruth.” Babe Ruth only Ruth couldn’t do what Show Otani is doing in 2025. If if Show Otani was playing in Babe Ruth’s era, he would bet like 600 or something. And and and you know what? I’m not even talking about like what the the actual baseball is, but like Babe Ruth was sim simultaneously a hitter and a pitcher for four and a half months of his career. Four and a half months. Show Otani has done that time and time and time and time again for years. Hey, for years now. So like that that comparison of Babe Ruth didn’t know. Babe Bruth did did it simultaneously for four and a half months. So get your facts straight. That’s number one. Number two, the now let’s go to your point, the competition he was facing and to what show is facing. I mean show is facing 95 mph sliders, dude. Yeah. I I don’t think show Otani like Babe Ruth is uh you know pounding gizzies in the dugout. Exact. Imagine how easy it was for Babe Ruth that he’s pounding exactly that in the dugout. Show can’t do that. So I, you know, the fact that we could have had Show Otani that the greatest of all time and I don’t I don’t care what everybody says, he is the greatest. He is the there’s there’s no there shouldn’t be a debate. I saw this on Twitter, dude. Somebody was saying like because they’re, you know, they’re saying like, “Oh, Shoan is not a a better hitter than Aaron Judge. He’s he’s not a better hitter than Willie Mays or Barry Bonds.” It’s like, yes, but the the thing is Aaron Judge, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, it’s like a $1 million check, right? That’s really nice. Show Otani is two $800,000 checks. So, I’ll ask you guys, what would you rather have, $1 million check or two $800,000 checks? I know my answer. Yes. Yes. assuming that they’re not, you know, spread out 30 years apart. Well, let’s put it this way. Is uh is Aaron Judge still in the playoffs right now? Has Aaron Judge won a ring yet? Um look, I I would think that if Otani was told tomorrow that, hey, we don’t want you to pitch anymore. Uh we just want you to focus exclusively on hitting. I think he would be as good of a hitter, if not better, than Aaron Judge. and we can just pencil him in for MVP pretty much every like he could he could retire after this season and still most likely make the Hall of Fame just what he’s done in his handful of seasons in the big leagues. People forget history. People forget Kevin that in a year where he was supposed to be recouping from Tommy John’s surgery, okay, he put up a 5050 season. A50 something that had never been done before. A guy who can’t pitch because of Tommy John is putting those numbers up. The greatest the like there is no debate. There is none. He’s doing it at the at the most difficult time to do it in sports, okay? Where it’s a globalized sport. So, you really are talking about the elite of the elite of the elite in the 20s. Not the best ones were playing, okay? And we don’t need to get into it, but you all know about what I’m talking about. Okay? It wasn’t mixed in 1927, now was it? So, you weren’t getting the best of the best. Now, you are. It’s a globalized sport again. 95 mph sliders, dude. That’s When we were growing up, a 95 mph fastball was like, “Oh, that guy’s got heat. They’re throwing sliders at that right now.” No. The greatest, man. Yeah. And even though, you know, we we would have had to give up Junior Camero back in the day to acquire Show Otani. It just still would have been such a cool storyline to have Show Otani on the roster for two months. And I don’t I think he would have been more productive than Nelson Cruz in his last two months with the race. and who knows where the Rays would have gone, but um yeah, it’s it’s just crazy to think about that and also crazy to think that the just to go on a tangent real briefly here, the fact that the Angels have had both Mike Trout and Show Otani and couldn’t win nothing with those two. How bad of an organization do you have to be? I know we’ve criticized the Rays for some of the moves they’ve made, but that is like you just dropped two bags full of money and walked away. I mean, that’s that’s why perspective is everything because we can point out here how the Rays are not perfect, but then when you look at other organizations like the Angels and you go like, woof, they uh have it real rough, those fans, because I 100% rather be a Rays fan than 25 other fan bases. Like it it’s we can we can judge our own house and we will and we’ll never stop doing so because that’s what being a fan is. You need to say the good and the bad. But yeah, something like the Angels did just to throw away two of the biggest talents we’ve ever seen and not win anything. That’s rough. Yeah. The last time the Angels had a winning season, by the way, 2015 when they were the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. They won. We were barely out of college, man. Yeah. That is uh crazy stuff for sure. Uh thank you for listening to the Lockdown Race podcast. We appreciate it. Uh stay tuned for what we have on later this week.

Tampa Bay Rays’ front office under fire: Blake Snell trade fallout and missed opportunities
Kevin Weiss and Ulises Sambrano dissect the Rays’ recent trades, focusing on the Blake Snell deal that continues to haunt Tampa Bay. The hosts analyze how Luis Patino, Francisco Mejia, and other acquired players have underperformed while Snell shines for the Dodgers. They explore additional questionable moves, including declining Charlie Morton’s option and trading Jake Cronenworth.
Tune in for a critical look at the Rays’ decision-making and how it’s shaped their recent playoff performances. Is the front office’s reputation still intact?
2:13 Blake Snell trade looks worse every year
6:23 Analyzing the return for Blake Snell
10:52 Other questionable Rays moves in recent years
20:18 Shohei Ohtani could have been a Ray
24:33 Debating Ohtani as the greatest of all time

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