There was a notable trade in Major League Baseball on Saturday between the Rays and the A’s. Going from Tampa Bay to northern California are left-handed starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs of Belmont, North Carolina and left-handed reliever Jacob Lopez of Granada Hills, California. Going from the Athletics to the Rays are right handed pitchers Joe Boyle of O’Fallon, Missouri, pitching prospect Jacob Watters of Rocky Gap, Virginia, and first base prospect Will Simpson of Alexandria, Virginia.
Jeffrey Springs
Springs is joining his fourth Major League Baseball franchise after pitching for the Texas Rangers in 2018 and 2019, the Boston Red Sox in 2020, and the Tampa Bay Rays from 2021 to 2024. He missed a significant part of the last two seasons in Tampa due to Tommy John Surgery. However, when on the mound over the last two years, Springs has been very good.
In 2024, Springs pitched seven games, and had a record of two wins and two losses with an earned run average of 3.27. In 33 innings pitched, Spring gave up 34 hits, 12 earned runs, five home runs and 11 walks, to go along with 37 strikeouts, and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.37. Springs beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 17 by a score of 6-1 (one earned run in five innings), and had a quality start on September 3 in recording the win in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins (one earned run in six innings).
The 2023 season was tremendous for Springs. He only gave up one earned run in 16 innings before experiencing pain in his left arm on April 13, 2023. In an 11-0 Rays win over the Oakland Athletics, Springs pitched seven shutout innings and only gave up three hits.
Jacob Lopez and Joe Boyle
While Springs has been great the last two years, Lopez and Boyle have not been. Lopez had an earned run average of 5.23 after four games last season, while Boyle’s ERA was 6.42.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
