Rays trade LHP Jeffrey Springs to the Athletics

Rays will also send LHP Jacob Lopez to receive three players and a high draft pick.

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded LHP Jeffrey Springs, a key piece of the Rays rotation in 2022 that missed the majority of 2023 and 2024 due to injury, to the Oakland Athletics.

Among the starting pitchers to deal, Springs made the most sense financially as he was set to make $10.5 million in 2025 and 2026, with a team option. Those dollar amounts for one of baseball’s best whiff-rate starters also provided decent value on the trade market.

Jeffrey Springs’ tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays was notable due to his transformation into from a fringe reliever into a quality starter after being acquired in a January 2021 trade of depth pieces with the Boston Red Sox.

Springs shined in 2022, posting a breakout season with a 2.46 ERA across 33 appearances (25 starts), cementing his place in the Rays’ rotation. Armed with a deceptive changeup and pinpoint control, he excelled at limiting hard contact and nearly led baseball in Chase% that season, becoming a crucial piece of Tampa Bay’s pitching depth.

The Rays rewarded his growth by signing him to a four-year, $31 million extension in January 2023; however, Springs’ 2023 campaign was cut short due to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery after just three stellar starts. He returned late in 2024 with seven starts that were enough to show he’s on track to form. Despite the setback, his overall success with the Rays reflects the organization’s ability to develop unheralded players into key contributors.

Also going to the Athletics will be LHP Jacob Lopez, who was traded to the Rays in 2019 for Triple-A depth outfielder Joe McCarthy. A starter throughout his minor league career, the Rays added Lopez to the 40-man for the 2023 season, but used him sparingly as a reliever. Over two cups of coffee, he picked up 22.2 IP allowing 19 hits, 9 walks, and 12 ER. Among the Rays deep pitching depth, he was unlikely to get the call quickly. Moving him to the A’s will surely give him more major league opportunities down the road.

Springs Trade Return

The Athletics will be sending essentially four players back to the Rays in RHP Joe Boyle, 1B/3B/OF Will Simpson, RHP Jacob Watters, and the Athletics Comp-A draft pick, which falls between the first and second round of the coming draft.

Boyle is the key return, made his MLB debut in 2023 and exceeded rookie limits during the 2024 season as a starter. To date he’s had some serious control issues — he quite literally had the worst BB% among qualified pitchers at 17.7% last year, and consequently the lowest Chase rate at 19.3% — but he has massive stuff. When batters did swing, he had a stellar, 84th percentile 30.2% Whiff rate, and not many pitchers throw harder.

Drafted as a 6’7” reliever out of Notre Dame, the now 25-year old tops out at 100 mph on his fastball, and has a slider and curveball that also grade in the 60’s on the 20-to-80 scale. Traditional prospect coverage would presume he’s destined for the bullpen, but he should break Rays camp among the starters.

In terms of value, I’d next rank the draft selection, which currently lands at No. 34 overall but could move up if teams forfeit any draft picks through free agency penalties. The Rays already possessing the No. 14 and No. 32 in the 2025 draft, with their own Comp-A pick sitting two slots ahead of this acquired selection.

Corner infielder Will Simpson is a power hitting prospect drafted as a senior out of University of Washington, and he’s hit at every level, even after making the dreaded leap to Double-A at the end of last year, with a 155 wRC+ and 2 HR over 47 PA to end the year. Despite not having a clear defensive home — I would imagine the Rays add some outfield to his repertoire — he fills a need in the Rays system as they were looking to acquire in Mac Horvath at the trade deadline: a strong RHH profile.

Watters, a 2022 fourth round pick from West Virginia, struggled with his results and was sent back to High-A last season, where the results still weren’t there for him. Best guess is the Rays pitching group love his breaking ball, and think he’s worth the lotto ticket at the end of this trade.