A is close to acquiring Jeffrey Springs from the Rays

The Athletics and the Rays announced a multi-player trade that will feature lefties Jeffrey Springs AND Jacob López head to West Sacramento. In exchange, the Rays will receive the right-hander Joe Boylethe Athletics’ pick in Competitive Balance Round A of the 2025 draft and two minor league players in the right-hand round Jacob Watters and first base/outfielder Will Simpson.

Considering the Rays’ depth in rotation options, Springs was seen as a logical trade candidate this winter, as he was about to enter the most expensive portion of the backloaded, four-year, $31 million extension he signed with Tampa in January 2023. he is owed $10.5 million in each of the next two seasons, and there is a $15 million club option on his services for 2027 that can be purchased for $ 750,000.

For the first two years and $9.25 million on that extension, the Rays have just 49 innings of work from Springs, albeit with a 2.39 ERA. Tommy John surgery in April 2023 sidelined Springs for most of the last two seasons, and he returned to the mound last July to post a 3.27 ERA over seven starts and 33 innings before being shut down beginning of September due to tiredness in his muscles. throwing elbow. It’s difficult to get much data from a small sample size, but Springs still posted an above-average strikeout and walk rate and, if anything, could have performed better if not for a .330 BABIP.

Before the injury, Springs looked like yet another success story for Tampa Bay’s pitching development system. A 30th-round pick for the Rangers in the 2015 draft, Springs showed only a few flashes of quality in his first three MLB seasons, posting a 5.42 ERA in 84 2/3 innings with Texas and Boston. Dealt from the Red Sox to the Rays in a relatively under-the-radar trade in February 2021, Springs emerged posting a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 bullpen innings for Tampa during the 2021 season, and then performed even better after moving to a starting role in 2022. The breakout year saw Springs provide a 2.46 ERA in 135 1/3 innings (as well as a strikeout rate by 26.2% and a 5.6% walk rate) as Springs seemed to finally avoid the home run problems that have plagued much of his career.

Springs managed to capitalize on his great season with a life-changing contract extension, but his long injury layoff turned him into an odd man out of the Rays’ rotation. Shane McClanahan, Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Zack LittellAND Drew Rasmussen they’re all lined up to start in 2025, not to mention all the other young entrepreneurs who could emerge from Tampa’s ever-burdened agricultural system. With Springs’ price rising, many thought the Rays would move his salary to a pitching-needy team with payroll room to spare.

If the idea of ​​the Athletics being a “team with extra payroll room” is still surprising to consider, the 32-year-old Springs is now the second splurge the A’s have made in their rotation this winter, having already signed Luis Severino to a three-year, $67 million contract. The addition of Springs’ contract brings the A’s closer to the minimum luxury tax figure of $105 million required to continue to qualify as a revenue-sharing team and to avoid a grievance by the players’ union. RosterResource estimates the Athletics’ current VAT is approximately $88.55 million, assuming the trade is completed.

Despite an ulterior motive, trading for Springs is also a solid baseball move for an A’s team in need of help in the rotation. Severino and Springs are big upgrades to a rotation that struggled mightily last season, and the newcomers now are the first two members of the starting five that includes JP Sears, Mitch SpenceAND Joey Estes.

Further pitching moves cannot be ruled out, as the Athletics still have a long way to go before reaching the $105 million mark. Severino notwithstanding, it can’t be an easy sell for the A’s to get free agents to pitch at a minor league stadium in West Sacramento, so trading players (perhaps on unwanted contracts) has long seemed like a more logical move for the Athletics. to both add payroll and strengthen your roster at the same time.

Lopez shouldn’t be ruled out as part of the Athletics’ pitching situation in 2025, as the lefty has already logged 22 2/3 MLB innings with the Rays over the past two seasons. A 26th-round pick for the Giants in the 2018 draft, Lopez missed all of 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but has a 2.99 ERA in 337 2/3 career minor league innings. That includes a 3.54 ERA, a 27% strikeout rate and a 12.87% walk rate in 168 innings of Triple-A ball, with Lopez starting 37 of 39 games for the major affiliate of the Rays.

Despite his lack of speed, Lopez managed to miss quite a few at-bats, although this ability didn’t show up in his short time in the majors. It may be that Lopez could have gotten a bigger look if he had simply been on a team that didn’t have Tampa Bay’s pitching depth, and now a new opportunity presents itself for Lopez with this trade. Lopez (who turns 27 in March) is expected to be part of the fifth starting competition in camp, but will likely start the year at Triple-A, acting as one of the first depth options in the event of an injury to a member of the rotation.

Moving on to the Rays’ end of the trade, the inclusion of the Comp-A pick is particularly interesting and could speak to the league-wide interest in Springs’ services. Competitive balance rounds are bonus rounds within the draft that award picks to 15 teams in the bottom 10 in market size and revenue, as determined by the league formula that takes into account revenue, winning percentage and market score. CBR picks are the only draft selections eligible to be traded, and while such trades tend to be rare, we have seen these picks involved in some notable trades over the years. The Comp-A round takes place just before the start of the second round, and while the exact placement of the traded pick has not yet been determined, last year’s Comp-A picks were the No. 1 selections. 34-39 in the 2024 draft order.

It’s no small feat for a team to face a pick like that, especially when building through the draft is of particular importance for a low-spending team like the A’s. However, getting at least two years of control over Springs was apparently worth the cost, as with the club option, the Athletics could have Springs for the full three-year stint in Sacramento before their planned new ballpark in Las Vegas be ready for. Opening day 2028.

As for the other parts of the trade package, Boyle brings a major league-ready arm to the Rays’ pitching mix. Debuting with a 1.69 ERA in three starts and 16 innings in 2023, Boyle had a 6.42 ERA in 47 2/3 innings last season, missing about a month of action with a back strain and spending most of the year at Triple-A. .

The 25-year-old is something of a classic case of a hard-throwing pitcher (97.7 mph average fastball velocity in the majors) failing to capitalize on his skills, as Boyle posted high walk totals in the minors and during his 2024 stint on the show. Fixing these control issues will determine whether or not Boyle can stick around in the big leagues as a reliever or back-end starter, and given the Rays’ history of fixing pitchers, no one would be surprised if Boyle ends up figuring it out in Tampa just like Springs and many other pitchers have done it over the years. Boyle has two options remaining in the minor leagues, giving the Rays more flexibility in using him as a new arm to move back and forth between Triple-A and the active roster.

Baseball America ranked Simpson 16th in the Athletics’ top 30 prospects in April, while MLB Pipeline has Simpson 28th in the team’s system rating. A 15th-round pick of the 2023 draft, Simpson has dominated minor league pitching in his two pro seasons and made it to the Double-A level for 18 games in 2024. Simpson has shown good pop in his bat and has a good approach to the Flat: Scouts like his “analytical aptitude,” as BA’s scouting report puts it, with the idea that Simpson can still unlock more as he explores more ways to improve his shots. Defensively, Pipeline is more bullish on the idea of ​​Simpson as a serviceable first baseman or corner outfielder, while Baseball America is more at odds with his glove work in general.

Watters was a fourth-round pick for the A’s in the 2022 draft, and has a 5.86 ERA, a 21.9% strikeout rate and an inflated 13.73% walk rate in 152 professional innings. Nearly all of that experience is high-level, though Watters skipped Double-A to make an appearance in Triple-A ball last season. Working as both a starter and reliever, Watters’ numbers have been much better outside of the pen, so this could be the 23-year-old’s final career path.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan (multiple links) reported the trade and all the players and picks involved except Lopez, whose involvement wasn’t revealed until the deal was officially announced.

Photo courtesy of Sports images from USA Today