The Tampa Bay Rays traded starting pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez to the Athletics in exchange for pitchers Joe Boyle and Jacob Watters along with infielder Will Simpson and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick.
Springs, along with right handed reliever Chris Mazza, was acquired by Tampa Bay from the Boston Red Sox in January of 2020 in exchange for minor league prospects Ronaldo Hernandez and Nick Sogard. He posted a 5-1 mark with a 3.43 ERA in 44.2-innings out of the Rays bullpen in 2021 before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee ending his campaign on July 31st.
He opened the 2022 season in the Rays bullpen, but the team saw his ability to get out hitters out from both sides of the plate and transitioned him into a starting role where he flourished. After moving into the starting rotation on May 9th against the Los Angeles Angels, Springs made 24 starts and pitched to a 8-5 mark with a sparkling 2.65 ERA.
Prior to the 2023 season, Springs signed a 4-year contract extension totaling $31M which included a 5th year club option worth $15M. The price of the club option can increase based on Cy Young voting achieved in the 2025-2025 seasons: $2.5M for winning the Cy, $2M for second through fifth in vote, and $500K for sixth through 10th in vote.
Springs opened the 2024 season with two excellent starts including delivering a career high seven innings, interestingly enough, against the Athletics. He departed his third start of the season against the Boston Red Sox after three innings and was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament and required the dreaded Tommy John surgery. The surgery knocked him out of the remainder of the 2023 season and delayed his return to the mound until July 30, 2024.
He made seven starts for Tampa Bay in 2024 with marginal results finishing the season after experiencing discomfort in his left elbow following his September 3rd start against the Minnesota Twins. Under the hood there were other issues as his fastball velocity that sat in the 90-92 range during his impressive 2022-2023 sample was only around 88-90 miles an hour in 2024. Overall, he finished the 2024 campaign 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA totaling 33.0 innings of work.
The Athletics hope that he can rebound and provide both innings and effectiveness in 2025 and are willing to gamble by taking all of the remaining $21M guaranteed in the deal.
Jacob Lopez was acquired by Tampa Bay from the San Francisco Giants at the traded deadline in 2019 for outfielder Joe McCarthy. His development was delayed after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021 and missing the 2022 season completely. He was able to battle his way back to be added to the Rays 40 man roster. He appeared in four games each in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Overall he was 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA spanning 22.2 innings of work. His most impressive outing was his final outing with Tampa Bay in 2024 logging five scoreless innings in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
Joe Boyle stands 6-foot 7-inches and has a booming fastball that sits in the 96-98 mile per hour range. Unfortunately, the big righty can’t command his arsenal as noted by his career walk rate of 6.4-batters per nine innings. The 25 year old was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 5th round out of Notre Dame in the 2020 draft. He was traded to the Athletics at the trade deadline in 2024 in exchange for reliever Sam Moll. Boyles best career start came against the Tampa Bay Rays back on August 19th where he delivered six scoreless innings while striking out six and only walking three in the Athletics 3-0 victory.
Jacob Watters is a right handed pitcher who was selected by the Athletics in the fourth round in the 2022 draft out of West Virginia. He has struggled in high-A posting an 8-12 mark over the past two seasons. He is an unrefined product that might be best suited as a two pitch pitcher out of the bullpen.
Will Simpson is primarily a first baseman who was drafted by the Athletics in the 15th round in the 2023 draft out of the University of Washington. He will join a crowded field of first base types in the Double A/Triple A Rays organization that includes Bob Seymour, Tre’ Morgan, and Xavier Isaac. Last season he reached Double A and overall hit .282/378/.482 with 18 homers in 550 plate appearances.
The compensation pick that Tampa Bay will receive is the seventh compensation pick following the first round of the draft. The exact position of the draft pick can not be determined until after the compensation picks for free agents that have yet to ink deals is completed.
Tampa Bay headed into the offseason with seven starters, all with various degrees of success in MLB, on their roster. Shane McClanahan (returning from surgery) and Drew Rasmussen (moving back to rotation) will both have to have their innings monitored during the season. Taj Bradley, Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, and Zack Littell are the other candidates for the rotation and all should have less restrictions on innings than either of McClanahan or Rasmussen.
From a risk standpoint, there has to be some concern with Springs. He was removed from his second rehab start in the Florida Complex League due to left shoulder discomfort. The injury was not deemed serious and when the shoulder calmed down he was able to resume his rehab. He returned to the Rays rotation on July 30th against the Miami Marlins.
However, after seven starts he had elbow discomfort and was shut down for the remainder of the season. During his 2024 campaign he displayed lower velocity which isn’t uncommon after returning from a lengthy absence but paired with elbow discomfort there has to be some concern. Shutting him down may have been just precautionary and if the Rays had been in a playoff position he may have pitched again, but that is an unknown.
The Rays did very well to shed the remainder of the salary in the deal as well as pick up Joe Boyle and the Competitive Balance pick. The Competitive Balance pick comes with a slot value that will increase the Rays overall draft spending pool. While the Rays may not get a premium player with the pick, they may choose a safe under slot college player, they can shuffle the money of the pool throughout the draft and maybe land a premium talent later with the extra money. In other words, the value of the draft pick may not be the player selected, but the value found in an over-slot signing further down the draft board.
The Rays front office and Kevin Cash also would have had a difficult time monitoring the innings of three starters in the rotation. They are already tasked with the anticipation of additional strain on the pitching staff with expected issues with weather interruptions while playing outdoors at Steinbrenner Field in 2025. The Rays, if they can unlock the command of Joe Boyle, have an electric arm that misses bats. He could find success with control in either the rotation or in the back of the bullpen.