The Athletics and Rays are in the final stages of completing a multi-player trade that would include southpaw Jeffrey Springs According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (multiple links), it’s headed to West Sacramento. The A’s are getting Springs and another player, while the Rays are getting right-handers Joe Boyle And Jacob Wattersoutfielder Will Simpsonplus the Athletics’ selection in the Competitive Balance Round A of the 2025 draft.

Considering how deep the Rays are in rotation options, Springs was viewed as a logical trade candidate this winter as he was poised to enter the more expensive portion of the retroactive four-year, $31 million extension he signed with Tampa in January 2023 had. Springs is due $10.5 million each of the next two seasons and has a $15 million club option on his services for 2027, which can be bought out for $750,000.

In the first two years and $9.25 million of this extension, the Rays only got Springs to 49 innings, 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 starting It was closed in September due to fatigue throwing elbows. It’s difficult to get a lot of data from a small sample size, but Springs still had an above-average strikeout and walk rate, and if anything, it might have had better bottom-line results had it not been for a .330 BABIP would have.

Before the injury, Springs appeared to be another success story for Tampa Bay’s pitching development system. Springs, a 30th-round draft pick of the Rangers in the 2015 draft, showed few flashes of quality in his first three MLB seasons, posting a 5.42 ERA in 84 2/3 innings with Texas and Boston. Traded from the Red Sox to the Rays in a relatively low-profile trade in February 2021, Springs posted a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 bullpen innings for Tampa during the 2021 season, and he pitched even better afterward will move to a starting role in 2022. In the breakout year, Springs posted a 2.46 ERA in 135 1/3 innings (as well as a 26.2% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate) as Springs finally avoided home run problems seemed to plague most of his career.

Springs was able to capitalize on his big season with a life-changing contract extension, but his long injury layoff made him an odd man out of the Rays’ rotation. Shane McClanahan, Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Zack Littell and Drew Rasmussen are all in line to start in 2025, not to mention the other young starters who could emerge from Tampa’s always crowded farm system. With Springs’ rising price tag, many assumed the Rays would move his salary to a team that relies on pitching and has vacancies on the payroll.

While it’s still surprising that the Athletics are a “free-salary team,” the 32-year-old Springs is the second addition the A’s have made to their rotation this winter, following the signing of Luis Severino Three-year, $67 million contract. By adding Springs’ contract, the A’s move one step closer to meeting the $105 million luxury tax minimum required to continue to qualify as a revenue-sharing team and avoid a players’ union appeal. RosterResource estimates the Athletics’ current tax figure to be approximately $88.55 million, assuming the trade is completed.

Regardless of any ulterior motives, moving to Springs is also a good baseball move for an A’s team in need of rotation help. Severino and Springs are big improvements to a rotation that struggled mightily last season, and the freshmen are now the top two members of a starting lineup that includes JP Sears, Mitch Spence and Joey Estes.

More pitching moves can’t be ruled out, as the Athletics still have a long way to go before they reach the $105 million mark. Severino notwithstanding, it can’t be easy for the A’s to convince free agents to play in a minor league stadium in West Sacramento, so trading players (perhaps due to unwanted contracts) has long seemed a more logical move for the Athletics to simultaneously increase payroll and strengthen their roster.

There’s more to come…