Padres News: Key Piece of Blake Snell Trade Signs Minor League Deal With Angels
The San Diego Padres' trade for Blake Snell turned into a heist.
The Padres acquired the then one-time Cy Young award winner — who won his second with San Diego in 2023 — for right-handed pitchers Luis Patiño and Cole Wilcox, and catchers Blake Hunt and Francisco Mejía.
Patiño has made just 34 MLB appearances since the trade, and has a 4.99 ERA. Wilcox has only played as high as Double-A in the Tampa organization, and had a 5.23 ERA last year.
Hunt played in Double-A and Triple-A last year in the Rays' organization, hitting a combined .256 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs.
And Mejía hit just .227 in 2023 with the Rays, and recently found a new home.
Earlier this month, Mejía signed a minor league deal with the Los Angeles Angels. The once key piece of the Snell trade is now looking to revitalize his career in Anaheim.
As for Snell, he remains a free agent as spring training is now underway for all 30 MLB teams.
Padres general manager spoke about Snell earlier this week, which you can read about by clicking here.
Snell seems unlikely to return to San Diego, but that trade already worked out well for the Padres.
In Snell's three years with the Friars, he went 29-25 with a 3.15 ERA and 575 strikeouts in 436.2 innings. He won the Cy Young award in 2023 after sporting a league-best 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts.
