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LA Dodgers should offer this ideal trade package for Blake Snell

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Dodgers Way

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 27: Blake Snell #4 of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts as he is being taken out of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning in Game Six of the 2020 MLB World Series at Globe Life Field on October 27, 2020 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

The Dodgers and Rays are literally a perfect match in a Blake Snell trade, based on Tampa Bay’s stated needs.

From World Series rivals to high-profile trade partners in just a few weeks? We trust in the Dodgers and Rays to make it happen.

Just on time, Tampa Bay leaked Monday night that they’d entertain trade offers for Blake Snell this offseason. You know, the very same Snell who publicly rolled his eyes and barked at Kevin Cash for removing him mid-gem in Game 6 of the World Series. It was the type of move that can alter a player’s trajectory with a franchise, and lo and behold, here we are.

Anyway, is there any other reason Snell is suddenly up for grabs? Can’t be, right?

Yup, there…there it is.

Have no fear, Rays front office, because your former friend Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers are here to save you with a trade package that matches your exact needs and clears up a logjam in Los Angeles.

Dodgers-Rays Blake Snell Trade

Rays Offer: Blake Snell

Dodgers Offer: Keibert Ruiz, Michael Busch, Clayton Beeter, Devin Mann

This is almost too snug a trade fit. Like the best glove you’ve ever owned.

The Rays are explicitly looking to cut costs here and clear out a potential problem, so there’s nothing they want less than players whose arbitration clocks have already started. Most teams want young MLB players these days; not Tampa Bay.

They’ve also explicitly stressed they’re looking for “catching, catching and more catching” this offseason. The Dodgers may love Keibert Ruiz, but they must realistically assess the catching tandem of Will Smith and Austin Barnes and realize that they’re fine behind the plate, and will be for quite a while.

This is going to be an expensive endeavor, which is why the headliner alone isn’t enough to close this deal. All told, we’ve given the Rays the Dodgers’ second, fourth, eighth, and 19th-ranked prospects, per MLB Pipeline, and included one pitcher, the developing Beeter, to even out the package.

It’s unlikely the Rays will encounter a more stacked farm system anywhere else, and Los Angeles would be making a stunning rotation upgrade without sacrificing a single piece they’re relying on in the immediate future.

You can concoct fake trades for years, and you won’t find a more mutually-beneficial one than this at a better time for both parties.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard and Dodgers Way for 4 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast twice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for eight years. Previously, he was a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.