This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said the Rays’ trade talks with the Dodgers surrounding right-hander Tyler Glasnow started to “intensify” the week after Thanksgiving, then ramped up at the Winter Meetings.

“The week before the Meetings and into the Meetings, it was a lot of time,” Neander said Saturday.

• Rays deal Glasnow, Margot to LA for 2 talented prospects

Including a little time away from the Gaylord Opryland Resort with country music star Brad Paisley. Yes, really.

Paisley, a big Dodgers fan who was at the Winter Meetings as the presenter for the MLB Draft Lottery, hosted the team’s contingent the night of Dec. 5 at his farm near Nashville, Tenn. Neander got to join the party as well.

There are plenty of reasons the Glasnow trade made sense for both sides, but might Paisley have played a part?

“Brad made it clear he was a Tyler fan. Made sure to use that as much as we could,” said Neander. “Got to pull out all the stops to get something like this done.”

Even if Neander was speaking a little tongue-in-cheek, it never hurts to have a three-time Grammy Award winner help make your case, making this get-together Time Well Wasted for all involved.