Five SF Giants Trade Possibilities For Rays Ace Blake Snell

SF Giants-Tampa Bay Rays Blake Snell Trade #2

Rays Get: OF Heliot Ramos, LHP Seth Corry, C Patrick Bailey,
Giants Get: LHP Blake Snell
Baseball Trade Value Simulator Winner: Rays +1.5

A Yastrzemski-Snell swap could make sense for both teams but does seem unlikely. The Giants would be trading the biggest success of their rebuild and the Rays would be limiting their return to one 30-year old outfielder. As good as Yastrzemski is, Tampa tends to target multi-player packages when they sell.

Heliot Ramos may not be the best prospect in the Giants system, but after a breakout in 2019, has emerged as a consensus top-75 prospect in baseball. Both teams could target him as a centerpiece for the same reason Yastrzemski could work. He’s relatively close to the major leagues and could soon fill a hole in an outfield corner.

Catcher is the other obvious need in Tampa’s system and Patrick Bailey was considered the best catcher available in the 2020 draft. While he will not be ready to contribute at the big-league level in 2021, his profile as a strong defensive, solid-hitting catcher tends to move quickly. With Joey Bart poised to become the Giants catcher of the future, Bailey is obviously more expendable.

Seth Corry has been the best pitching prospect in San Francisco’s system since a dominant 2019 season at Class-A Augusta. The young lefty’s control has wavered and finding consistent command will ultimately determine how well he develops. He has a potential plus changeup and curveball with a solid low-90s fastball. Most project him as a mid-rotation starter, but his performance suggests there could be more upside there.

Ramos, Corry, and Bailey do not project as stars, but all seem like good bets to become above-average starters. All three rank among the Giants top-ten prospects and probably among the top 250 prospects in baseball. Needless to say, it would offer Tampa Bay a solid trio of prospects to bet on.

For the Giants, this package would enable them to hold onto top prospects Joey Bart and Marco Luciano and leave their big-league roster untouched. The farm system would obviously lose a substantial amount of depth and would be even thinner at starting pitcher, but they would be unlikely to feel those losses until at least 2022.