The Athletics are continuing the fortification of their rotation, as they've acquired left-hander Jeffrey Springs from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays will get hard-throwing right-hander Joe Boyle, two prospects, and the A's Competitive Balance Round A pick.
The Rays have acquired a Compensation Round A pick from the Athletics in the trade that sends Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez to the A's. Tampa Bay currently has two CB-A picks.
— MLB Draft (@MLBDraft) December 14, 2024
Complete order: https://t.co/OnU01qLQ7V pic.twitter.com/P5QikSYHFt
This is the second major move for the A's rotation, as they prepare to move to Sacramento for the 2025 season while they wait for their new ballpark to finish construction in Las Vegas.
They signed Luis Severino earlier in the month to the largest deal in franchise history. While their rotation isn't necessarily big on names, they have a much more competitive environment with the additions of Severino and Springs.
Springs has three more years left on a four-year, $31 million extension he signed with the Rays, plus a club option for the 2028 season.
Springs adds stability to A's rotation
Springs isn't a top-of-the-rotation arm, but he offers them a lot more consistency in terms of results. As a starter, he holds a career 2.51 ERA and has held opposing hitters to a .223/.271/.357 slash line.
Most of that success came in 2022, when he pitched to a 2.46 ERA in 135.1 innings in his first full season as a starter. Those numbers should decline somewhat leaving Tampa Bay, an organization great at maximizing their pitching talent, but he offers a solid repertoire.
One thing to note is Springs carries reverse platoon splits. Right-handed hitters are hitting .227 with a .671 compared to a .274 average and .785 OPS against left-handed hitters in his career. That often speaks to the lack of a fastball presence and strong offspeed pitches. That's somewhat less concerning with a starter, as opposing teams will try to line up as many opposite-handed hitters to gain the platoon advantage as often as possible.
The changeup is his best offering, sitting just below 80 MPH, inducing whiffs at a 44.2% rate. However, the results weren't as good in 2024. Opposing hitters batted .333 with a .439 slugging percentage, although Statcast believes that Springs was a victim of poor luck. Based on the quality of contact, it estimated an expected batting average of .223 and an expected slugging percentage of .318.
Another concerning factor will be durability. Springs has been limited to 49 innings the past two seasons dealing with a ruptured UCL and Tommy John surgery.
In 2024, he pitched just 33 innings over seven starts after completing the rehab process. As the A's continue to add rotation depth options, any sort of innings limit in 2025 would be less concerning as the club tries to build a more competitive roster by the time they complete the move to Las Vegas.
Under threat of union grievance, A's push spending
As a condition for getting the maximum revenue sharing allotment, the A's are being watched closely by the MLBPA on spending. In order to avoid a potential grievance by the union, they have to push their Competitive Balance Tax payroll north of $105 million, or 150% of the $70 million they receive in revenue sharing. The last time they passed that threshold was in 2020, the last season they made the playoffs.
The additions of Severino ($22.333 million) pushed the A's 2025 payroll to $52.1 million and their CBT payroll to $73.6 million, according to Cots Contracts. The addition of Springs will likely push that number above $80 million once the figures are updated. They still need to increase their CBT payroll by another $25 million to satisfy the MLBPA, but that can be achieved with another big move or two.
It won't be easy for the A's to convince the top free agents to spend much of their 2025 season in a Triple-A ballpark. The other option is to continue attacking the trade market and going after short-term options to improve their rotation like Dylan Cease from the Padres.
Tampa Bay gets another high-octane arm to play with in Joe Boyle plus some lottery ticket prospects
While their rotation was devastated by injuries in 2024, the Rays will be welcoming back staff ace Shane McClanahan and youngster Shane Baz to their rotation in 2025. With younger and higher-upside pitchers needing spots in the rotation, they elected to trade Springs with three years left on his contract.
The main return for the Rays is right-hander Joe Boyle. While he lacks consistent control, with a walk rate of 17.7% in 2024, he has some overpowering stuff. His fastball averaged 97.7 MPH with a vertically oriented movement profile. He complements that with a curveball, slider, and sweeper.
Boyle could be a future upside play with the Rays' rotation, or they could see if his power stuff translates better into a bullpen role. Given how Tampa Bay likes to utilize their starters, he could offer a bulk pitcher role behind an opener as well.
The next most valuable part of the deal may be the supplemental first rounder Tampa Bay gets from the trade. That pick is projected to be the No. 37 selection of the 2025 draft, giving the Rays an extra high-value selection to work with in their bonus pool.
Will Simpson is one of the two prospects going to Tampa in the deal as well. Rated as the No. 26 prospect in the A's system by FanGraphs before the trade, Simpson enjoyed a strong 2024 season. Between High-A and Double-A, he slashed .282/.378/.482 with 18 home runs in 127 games. Plus power is his carrying trait, and he profiles as a right-handed hitting slugger at first base and the corner outfield.
Jacob Watters, the other prospect in the deal, struggled in a repeat of High-A in 2024, pitching to a 5.23 ERA in 18 games. FanGraphs notes that his breaking ball is good enough to keep monitoring, so he may be a future bullpen conversion candidate.