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Jeffrey Springs

Jeffrey Springs Expected To Miss Multiple Months With Arm Injury

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Rays southpaw Jeffrey Springs left yesterday’s start with ulnar neuritis in his throwing arm. That indicated some degree of nerve inflammation in the area and the issue is apparently serious. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Springs is expected to miss two months at a minimum.

The club is still seeking further evaluation, but Topkin ominously adds that the issue extends beyond the nerve. It’s not out of the question that surgery could be required, which would obviously extend Springs’ recovery timetable. Even in a best case scenario, Tampa Bay will be without one of its top starters for an extended stretch.

Springs went for an MRI this morning. Specifics on imaging aren’t clear, though manager Kevin Cash acknowledged to reporters before tonight’s game that he’d miss time. Springs will surely land on the 15-day injured list and seems likely to find himself on the 60-day IL at some point.

It’s a brutal development for a Tampa Bay club that has been firing on all cylinders. Springs has played his part in the Rays’ 13-0 start with a brilliant start to the season. He’d allowed only one run in 16 innings, punching out 24 while walking just four. He’d looked on his way to backing up last year’s breakout showing, when he moved from long reliever to key rotation piece after pitching to a 2.46 ERA through 135 1/3 innings.

The Rays are now down another important starter. Tampa Bay will be without Shane Baz for most or all of the year after last summer’s Tommy John surgery. Tyler Glasnow went down with an oblique strain in Spring Training and isn’t expected to return at least until the middle of May. Offseason signee Zach Eflin hit the 15-day injured list with back tightness earlier in the week.

Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen are locked into the rotation. Josh Fleming has operated at the back of the staff and figures to have a long leash given the injuries. The Rays called upon top prospect Taj Bradley for his MLB debut this week. Bradley was optioned back to Triple-A Durham after that start but can be recalled to replace Springs once he lands on the IL. Luis Patiño and Yonny Chirinos are on the 40-man roster as options for the back end.

A potentially serious injury to Springs would be a tough blow from a longer-term perspective as well. The Rays bet on Springs sustaining last year’s breakout, inking him to a $31MM extension over the offseason. He’s under contract through 2026 with a club option for the ’27 campaign.

Jeffrey Springs Removed From Game With Ulnar Neuritis

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Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs was removed from today’s game after a visit from manager Kevin Cash as well as the club’s trainer. The club later announced his injury to reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, describing it as left arm ulnar neuritis. He will undergo further evaluation tomorrow.

Until more testing is done, it will be unclear what kind of an absence Springs is facing. The ulnar nerve is commonly known as the “funny bone” due to the tingling sensation it can create in one’s arm when struck. “Neuritis” means that the nerve is inflamed. Having the diagnosis doesn’t necessarily pinpoint a timeline, as there’s still a range of possible outcomes. On the positive end, the Blue Jays placed Jordan Romano on the injured list in April of 2021 with ulnar neuritis, but he was back after just a 10-day absence.

On the other end of the spectrum, Jacob deGrom had surgery to address ulnar neuritis in September of 2016. That ended his season, which isn’t surprising as it was late in the schedule, but the Mets announced the recovery time as three months. It was a similar situation for Michael Fulmer when he was with the Tigers in 2017. He had surgery to address ulnar neuritis late in that season with the club announcing a recovery timeline of three to four months. Clearly, there’s a wide range of outcomes with this issue. The Rays and Springs will have to examine the severity of his ailment and determine the next steps before even a rough timeline can be mapped out.

However it ultimately plays out, it figures to be a blow to the Rays, as Springs has surprisingly emerged as an excellent starter recently. He had spent most of his career working out of the bullpen until the Rays stretched him out last year. He ultimately tossed 135 1/3 innings over 25 starts and eight relief appearances with a 2.46 ERA. He struck out 26.2% of batters faced against a 5.6% walk rate and 40.9% ground ball rate. The club had enough belief in those results to sign Springs to a four-year, $31MM extension this winter, though he could bump his earnings as high as $65.75MM over five years via a club option and incentives. He had looked strong so far here in 2023, not allowing an earned run over his first two starts, then letting one run cross the plate today before his exit.

The Rays have a strong starting staff, which has helped them jump out to an incredible 13-0 start to their season, as they eventually won today’s contest despite the loss of Springs. But if the lefty has to miss some time, it will further handcuff a rotation that started the season without Shane Baz or Tyler Glasnow and recently placed Zach Eflin on the injured list as well. If Springs joins that group on the IL, they will be down to two strong starters in Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen, while Josh Fleming has had mixed results so far this year. Eflin is expecting a minimum stay on the IL but still has another 10 days before he’s eligible to return, even if that’s true.

The Rays have often used bullpen games in the past but they would be challenged to get through their upcoming schedule with just three starters in McClanahan, Rasmussen and Fleming. They don’t have an off-day until April 20 and then won’t have another until May 15. That means they will likely have to lean on their depth at some point. Prospect Taj Bradley made his major league debut yesterday but was then optioned to Triple-A this morning. He isn’t eligible to return until 15 days from that optioning, though an exception is made when another player is going on the injured list. Luis Patiño and Yonny Chirinos are other options on the 40-man roster.

Rays Extend Jeffrey Springs

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The Rays announced they’ve signed left-hander Jeffrey Springs to a four-year contract extension. Springs, who’s represented by Ryan Ware of Alliance Sports Management, will be guaranteed $31MM over the course of the deal but there’s also incentives and a $15MM club option for 2027 with a $750K buyout. If Springs hits all the incentives and Cy Young award escalators and the club picks up the option, he’ll earn $65.75MM over five years.

The exact details of those incentives and escalators aren’t known. Springs will earn a salary of $4MM this year, $5.25MM next year, followed by $10.5MM in each of the following two seasons. Springs was set to reach free agency after 2024, so this could allow the Rays to secure him for three additional seasons, if they end up triggering that option.

Springs, 30, has had a unique baseball journey. A 30th round draft pick of the Rangers, he drew little fanfare from prospect evaluators in his first few professional seasons. Though he got some rotation work for a few years, the Rangers used him exclusively in relief in 2018 to good results. He tossed 56 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A that year. The 4.13 ERA might not seem very impressive, but it was surely inflated by a .438 batting average on balls in play. He kept his walks down to a reasonable 8.1% level while striking out an incredible 41.7% of batters faced. He got to make his MLB debut that year, throwing 32 innings over 18 appearances with a 3.38 ERA.

He took a step back in 2019, missing a few months with left biceps tendinitis and posting a 6.40 ERA. Texas designated him for assignment going into 2020 and then traded him to the Red Sox for Sam Travis. The change of scenery didn’t help Springs get back on track, as he posted a 7.08 ERA in the shortened 2020 campaign. He was designated for assignment again and then flipped to the Rays alongside Chris Mazza for prospects Ronaldo Hernández and Nick Sogard.

The move to Tampa appears to have been the one Springs needed, as his results have completely turned around since then. He registered a 3.43 ERA over 43 appearances in 2021, striking out 35.2% of batters faced while walking just 7.8% of them. In 2022, he started in the bullpen but the club began stretching him into a starter as the season went along. He responded well to the change, eventually throwing 135 1/3 innings with a 2.46 ERA, 26.2% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 40.9% ground ball rate.

After a few years of floundering and struggling, it’s not a huge surprise that Springs would jump at the chance to lock in some life-changing money here. He reached arbitration for the first time going into 2022 but only made $947.5K, a slight bump over the $700K league minimum. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a jump to $3MM this year, though he and the club didn’t come to an agreement prior to the filing deadline earlier this month. He submitted a $3.55MM figure while the Rays filed at $2.7MM. Instead, he’ll make $4MM and lock in some eight-figure salaries for the future.

For the Rays, they clearly believe Springs is capable of continuing as an effective starter, though there’s some risk here. Springs had excellent results in 2022 but it’s still just one season, and it wasn’t even a full one. As mentioned, Springs began the year in the bullpen and wasn’t stretched out until the end of May. He also went on the injured list for a couple of weeks in July due to right lower leg tightness. Concerns aside, the Rays are confident enough in the lefty that they’re willing to take a gamble on him.

For a low-spending team like the Rays, extensions are an important part of having talent on the roster. Since they don’t usually shop at the top of the free agent market, they need to keep guys around by locking them up before they get closer to the open market and increase their earning power. In recent years, they’ve given extensions to players like Kevin Kiermaier, Blake Snell, Brandon Lowe, Wander Franco, Manuel Margot and Tyler Glasnow, with Springs now joining them on that list.

This won’t have a huge impact on the club’s 2023 payroll but will add some decent commitments to 2025 and 2026. The club now has three players locked into the former season with Franco and Zach Eflin on the books there, along with a club option for Lowe. In exchange for putting that money on the table, the Rays now have arguably the most rotation stability they’ve had in years. Recent seasons have seen them rely on bullpen games and openers to get through a season but they now have Springs, Glasnow, Eflin, Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan, with depth options like Yonny Chirinos, Luis Patiño and Josh Fleming. Most of that group are still in their pre-arbitration years, giving the club years of affordable control. None of them are slated for free agency after this year and Glasnow is now the only one set to hit the open market after 2024. The club also has one of the top pitching prospects in the sport in Taj Bradley, who finished last year at Triple-A and could make his debut this year.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the deal and many of the details. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was the first with the year-to-year salary breakdown.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Requested Salary Figures For 33 Players Who Didn’t Reach Agreements By Arbitration-Filing Deadline

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January 13 was the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to exchange salary figures in advance of possible hearings, and as usual, the large majority of players worked out one-year agreements (or extensions) for their 2023 salaries.  MLBTR’s Arbitration Tracker detailed these agreements, though there is still quite a bit of unfinished business, as 33 players still don’t have their deals settled, and thus their 2023 salaries could be determined by an arbiter.

Typically, arb hearings take place in February or March, yet there isn’t anything officially preventing a team from still reaching an agreement with a player up until the moment an arbiter makes their ruling.  However, most clubs employ the “file and trial” strategy as a way of putting more pressure on players to accept agreements prior to the figure-exchange deadline.  In short, once the deadline passes, teams head to hearings with no more negotiation about a one-year salary, though clubs are typically still willing to discuss multi-year extensions.

Here are the 33 players who have yet to reach an agreement on their 2023 salaries, as well as the players’ requested salary and the team’s counter-offer.  As always, clubs (and the league as a whole) pay very close attention to arbitration salaries, since any outlier of a number can serve as a precedent in the future, thus raising the bar for both one particular players and perhaps players as a whole.  This is why teams are generally adamant about the “file and trial” tactic and taking the risk of a sometimes-awkward arb hearing, even in cases where there is a relatively small gap between the club’s figure and the player’s figure.

[RELATED: Arbitration projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz]

Nineteen of the 30 teams have at least one unsettled case remaining, with the Rays (by far) leading the way with seven players on pace to reach hearings.  Given that Tampa Bay entered the offseason with an enormous 19-player arbitration class, it perhaps isn’t surprising that the Rays still have a lot of work to do, even after trimming that initial class size with non-tenders and trades.  Teoscar Hernandez’s $16MM is the largest figure submitted by any of the 33 players, while Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette have the largest gap between submitted figures, each with a $2.5MM difference between their hoped-for salaries and the numbers respectively submitted by the Astros and Blue Jays.

The total list (which will be updated as settlements are reached and hearing results become known)….

Injury Notes: Montas, Brantley, Eflin, Springs, Beeks, May

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With the trade deadline approaching, Frankie Montas’ health status is of particular interest to both the Athletics and several other teams around baseball.  The right-hander tossed just one inning on July 3 and hasn’t pitched since, due to shoulder inflammation.  The A’s resisted placing Montas on the 15-day injured list, and it seems as though he could return as early as Thursday, when Oakland opens the second half with a doubleheader against the Tigers.

Montas received a cortisone shot as part of his recovery, and things went “really well” during a bullpen session yesterday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.  The club will continue to observe Montas over the All-Star break, but for now, it would seem like Montas is on pace to get back onto the mound.  Assuming regular rest, Montas would be on pace to make at least two starts prior to the August 2 deadline, though it’s also possible the Athletics could rest him if a trade is close.

More injury notes from around baseball…

  • Right shoulder discomfort sent Michael Brantley to the 10-day IL back on June 27, but the Astros outfielder still “didn’t feel right” while trying to swing last Thursday, manager Dusty Baker said.  “Right now, he’s in the same spot, no worse….That was the shoulder he got operated on years ago.  He’s still a little sore,” Baker told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters.  Brantley had shoulder surgeries in both 2015 and 2016, which limited him to only 11 games in 2016 and also delayed his return in 2017.  There isn’t yet any sense that this current injury is anywhere near as serious, however, though speculatively, Houston could perhaps look out for outfield help at the deadline should they have any longer-term concerns over Brantley’s health.
  • Zach Eflin threw a simulated game yesterday, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that Eflin came out of the session feeling a little sore, and team doctors will examine him tomorrow.  Eflin was placed on the 15-day IL on June 26 due to a right knee bruise, and Eflin is another player with a lengthy surgical history, as the righty underwent knee procedures in both 2016 and 2021.
  • Rays manager Kevin Cash updated reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) about a pair of pitching injuries, noting that Jeffrey Springs is expected to be activated during the Rays’ first series after the All-Star break.  Springs’ placement on the 15-day IL (for tightness in his lower right leg) was retroactive to July 7, so the southpaw looks like he’ll miss just the minimum amount of time.  Cash also thinks Jalen Beeks will miss only 15 days, after Beeks went to the IL just today with a similar leg injury.
  • Dustin May threw two innings of Arizona Complex League action yesterday, marking the first in-game action in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in May 2021.  May’s minor league rehab assignment is expected to last at least a month, the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett writes, but he could be an option for the Dodgers down the stretch.  As president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently told Plunkett and other reporters, “our plan is to build [May] up, have him start for us and then evaluate as we go,” possibly adjusting usage based on the Dodgers’ needs (in the regular season or the playoffs) and May’s health.

Rays Place Wander Franco, Kevin Kiermaier, Jeffrey Springs Injured List

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July 10: The Rays have officially announced that Franco and Kiermaier have been placed on the 10-day IL, while lefty Jeffrey Springs has been placed on the 15-day IL due to right lower leg tightness. Righty Calvin Faucher was also optioned to Triple-A Durham. To take over those four spots on the roster, they have indeed recalled Raley and Aranda, as well as lefty Josh Fleming and righty Phoenix Sanders.

July 9: The Rays have lost two regulars to the 10-day injured list, as Wander Franco and Kevin Kiermaier have both been sidelined.  As reported earlier, Franco left today’s game due to an injury in his right hand and wrist area, and manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that the initial diagnosis is that the injury is related to Franco’s hamate bone.  Franco will visit doctors on Monday to determine the extent of the problem, and if surgery is required, he could miss roughly 6-8 weeks.

Franco had to be removed after his very first at-bat, a first-inning strikeout against Hunter Greene.  On the second-last pitch of the plate appearance, Franco looked shaken up after fouling off a Greene fastball, and he was replaced in the field for the bottom of the inning.

Kiermaier played most of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Reds, as the center fielder was replaced for a pinch-runner after singling in the ninth inning.  During the game, however, Kiermaier experienced more discomfort in his left hip — that same issue forced Kiermaier to the IL in late June, though he missed only the minimum 10 days before being activated.

Given the recurring nature of the hip problem, it seems likely that Kiermaier will miss more than 10 days, though the upcoming All-Star break could cover four days of that IL stint.  Unless the Rays want to monitor Kiermaier to ensure that the hip soreness is entirely behind him, Kiermaier could be activated as early as July 22, when the Rays kick off their second half with a series in Kansas City.

Even if Franco can avoid surgery, he’ll still need at least a few weeks of recovery time.  The second-year star has hit .260/.308/.396 over 247 plate appearances this season — still above-average (1o4 wRC+) production, but naturally a letdown given the high expectations created by Franco’s top-prospect status and excellent 2021 rookie season.  Franco got off to a great start before quad injuries hampered his play in May, and that quad problem eventually sent him to the IL for four weeks.

Topkin writes that outfielder Luke Raley and infielder Jonathan Aranda are likely to be called up to replace Franco and Kiermaier on the active roster.  Aranda made his MLB debut in cup-of-coffee fashion earlier this season, playing in two games.  He’ll likely step into Taylor Walls’ utility infield role, as Walls will probably resume everyday shortstop duty (as he did during Franco’s last IL stint).

Raley is also a left-handed hitting outfielder, so in that sense, he’s an easy replacement for Kiermaier in Tampa Bay’s outfield mix.  However, there’s obviously no way to easily replace Kiermaier’s all-world defense, though backup Brett Phillips is a solid defender in his own right (even if right field is Phillips’ best outfield position from a glovework standpoint).  Phillips and Josh Lowe are the likeliest candidates to handle center field while Kiermaier is out, and Vidal Brujan also figures to chip in up the middle.  Manuel Margot is out until at least late August due to a patellar tendon strain, and while the Rays are optimistic Margot will play again in 2022, anything he can contribute going forward might be seen as a bonus.

While neither Franco or Kiermaier have excelled at the plate this season, their twin absences will likely only intensify the Rays’ already clear need for more hitting help at the deadline.  Especially if Franco is sidelined until September, Tampa will need more consistent production from the lineup if the team is going to both qualify for the postseason and then be legitimate contenders in October.  As usual, the Rays aren’t likely to break the bank on a new acquisition, but position-player depth (whether an everyday name or a multi-positional part-timer) certainly seems like a priority.

Rays Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Javy Guerra and recalled righty Phoenix Sanders from Triple-A Durham, per a team announcement. They’ll take the roster spots of left-hander Brooks Raley and righty Ryan Thompson, who have been placed on the restricted list in advance of the Rays’ road series in Toronto.

Tampa Bay also announced that left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who had been slated to start tonight’s game in Toronto, has been scratched and placed on the family medical emergency list. Matt Wisler is instead serving as an opener tonight, and lefty Ryan Yarbrough has been recalled from Triple-A in his place. He’ll be an option to work the bulk of tonight’s innings behind Wisler.

This will be the second stint of the season for Guerra with the Rays. Once a top shortstop prospect with Boston, Guerra moved to the mound during his time in the Padres’ minor league system and has since had brief big league stints as a reliever with Friars and Rays. He pitched 7 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay earlier this season but was rocked for nine runs on 11 hits and four walks with four strikeouts during that brief spell.

Guerra, however, has been lights-out in Triple-A, where he owns a 1.29 ERA with a huge 32.1% strikeout rate against an 8.3% walk rate in 21 innings this season. Half the balls put in play against him have been grounders, and although Guerra served up three long balls in the Majors earlier this season, he’s yet to yield a round-tripper with Durham. While he’s being selected to the roster out of necessity at the moment, it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t earned another look anyhow with that standout performance.

The 27-year-old Sanders made his MLB debut with the Rays earlier this year and has pitched well both in the big leagues (1.80 ERA in 10 frames) and in Durham (3.38 ERA in 18 2/3 innings). The Rays’ 2017 tenth-round pick, Sanders only had his contract selected to the Majors this season, so he’s in the first of what can be three minor league option years for Tampa Bay.

Yarbrough, 30, was the Rays’ innings leader from 2019-21 but has seen his results trend in the wrong direction dating back to the 2021 season. He was optioned for the first time in three years earlier this season and has since pitched 19 innings of 4.74 ERA ball in Durham. He won’t have an easy task, returning to face a righty-heavy Blue Jays lineup at the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre, but an impressive showing could help him to pitch his way back into the big league plans.

Rays Place Jeffrey Springs On Covid-IL, Reinstate Yandy Diaz

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The Rays have placed left-handed pitcher Jeffrey Springs on the Covid-related injury list due to a close contact situation, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll swap places with Yandy Diaz, who comes off the Covid-IL after just a day.

The virus seems to be floating around the Rays team, as some staff members have tested positive in recent days. That was followed by catcher Francisco Mejia testing positive on Friday, which landed him on the injured list. Diaz was placed on the injured list yesterday after experiencing some symptoms. However, he must have tested negative due to his quick return.

As for Springs, the 29-year-old is off to a great start this year. He’s thrown seven scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the Rays, with a 34.6% strikeout rate and 11.5% walk rate. Until he returns, the club will have Brooks Raley, Colin Poche and Jalen Beeks as the available lefties in their bullpen.

Diaz is off to a fairly standard start to the year for him, hitting for contact but not a lot of power. His .275/.383/.326 line adds up to a 127 wRC+, with his 10.6% strikeout rate well below his career rate of 16.2%, which was already better than league average.

Rays Sign David Robertson

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The Rays are adding some big-name bullpen depth for the final six weeks of the season, announcing on Monday that they’ve signed right-hander David Robertson to a Major League contract. Robertson, who just pitched for Team USA during the Summer Olympics, will head to Triple-A for a tune-up for the time being. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who’d been out with a knee sprain, has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

David Robertson | Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Robertson, 36, will be aiming to return to a big league mound for the first time since early in the 2019 season. He reached free agency for the second time of his career on the heels of a strong season with the Yankees in 2018 and wound up inking a two-year, $23MM deal to serve as the Phillies’ closer. He was entering his age-34 season at the time and had been the game’s most durable reliever in the nine prior seasons — averaging 65 appearances and 65 innings per year without ever incurring a major arm injury.

As has so often been the case with relievers acquired by the Phillies in recent years, however, things simply didn’t go according to plan. The ultra-durable Robertson hit the injured list early in the 2019 campaign, and by season’s end it was clear that he’d require Tommy John surgery. He missed the entire 2020 campaign as well and ultimately only pitched 6 2/3 frames as a member of the Phils.

Robertson received some interest from clubs during Spring Training but opted not to sign prior to the season. Instead, he wound up as one of a handful of highly recognizable veterans who pitched for the United States during the Olympic Games this summer, eventually earning a Silver Medal. Robertson tossed three innings during tournament play and yielded a pair of runs — not ideal results, but the event also served to demonstrate his health for contenders in need of bullpen depth.

From 2010-18, Robertson was one of the game’s most consistent and most successful relievers. He racked up 583 innings between the Yankees and White Sox in that time, pitching to a 2.72 ERA with a brilliant 32.6 percent strikeout rate and a 9.3 percent walk rate. He served as a setup man for Mariano Rivera for much of that time but eventually stepped up as the Yankees’ closer in their first post-Rivera season before inking a four-year, $46MM deal to serve as the White Sox’ closer.

Time will tell what type of form Robertson is in at this juncture of his career, but for the Rays there’s no reason not to take a look and see if Robertson can recapture some of his old form. If he’s able to do so, he’d not only be a major boost to the team down the stretch but also in pivotal postseason games. Tampa Bay currently leads the American League East by three games.

As for Springs, it’s an unfortunate outcome for the 28-year-old southpaw, who’d had a career year in Tampa Bay. Acquired in a deal that sent former top catching prospect Ronaldo Hernandez to Boston, Springs worked to a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 frames with the Rays before going down with a knee sprain. While he said at the time of the injury that he hoped to be back in a matter of two to four weeks, it seems the damage was either worse than initially expected or perhaps worsened during Springs’ rehab efforts. He underwent surgery to repair an ACL tear today, which will end his season and call for a rehab process that could potentially linger into 2022.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported the move (Twitter link).

Rays Notes: Springs, Johnson, McHugh, Archer

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The Rays have placed Jeffrey Springs on the IL with a knee sprain, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin also says Springs is relieved that it’s just a sprain and not something involving structural damage. Springs gives his own recovery timeline as 2-4 weeks. Acquired in an offseason deal with the Red Sox, the lefty has become a key contributor in the Rays’ bullpen this year, throwing 44 2/3 innings with an ERA of 3.43 with an excellent strikeout rate of 35.2%, though his walk rate is a tad high at 7.8%. Getting him back within that injury timeline will allow him to rejoin the club for what figures to be a tight pennant race. The Rays are now sitting atop the AL East, but just half a game ahead of the Red Sox, whom they are hosting tonight.

More from the Trop…

  • Taking Springs’ spot on the active roster is DJ Johnson. He was sent over to Tampa from Cleveland alongside Jordan Luplow in the hours before Friday’s trade deadline. Johnson has a small and scattered major league track record, throwing 33 innings since debuting in 2018. But in 21 2/3 Triple-A innings this year, his strikeout rate is 34%, but with an inflated walk rate of 10.7%, with an ERA of 3.32. If he can duplicate those numbers at the big league level, that could almost match Springs’ production.
  • Topkin also provides an update on Collin McHugh, who was placed on the IL July 25th with arm fatigue. McHugh’s recent bullpen session went well and he hopes to be back as soon as Friday. McHugh was been a superb multi-inning contributor for the Rays this year. Over 23 games, he’s pitched 41 2/3 innings, with a miniscule 1.51 ERA, along with excellent strikeout and walk rates of 36.6% and 5%.
  • Topkin also has some unfortunate news about Chris Archer. The righty has been rehabbing and trying to build up to a starter’s workload but suffered a setback today. Instead of the planned 75 pitches, he was removed after just 31 because of “left hip soreness.” Archer signed a deal this offseason to return to Tampa but has only been healthy enough to throw 4 1/3 innings at the big league level thus far.

 

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