A's Turned Trade with Cincinnati Reds into a Big Opportunity

Sep 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Joe Boyle (35) pitches the ball against the Texas Rangers during the fourth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
Sep 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Joe Boyle (35) pitches the ball against the Texas Rangers during the fourth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

Last weekend, the Athletics made a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays that sent left-hander Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez to West Sacramento in exchange for a Competitive Balance Pick and a package of prospects. One of the players headed back to Tampa Bay is former Cincinnati Reds prospect Joe Boyle.

Boyle has immense talent, and if there is an organization that can help him unlock his ceiling, it's the Rays. He throws in the upper 90s, generates swings and misses as well as strikeouts, and has a ton of potential. The big issue has been that he's unable to control his pitches with any sort of regularity.

When he made his debut in Oakland at the end of the 2023 season, he showed flashes of huge potential, getting into three games, starting two, and holding a 1.69 ERA across 16 innings. He also took a no-hitter deep into one of his two starts.

In 2024, he began the year in Triple-A Las Vegas, and while he struck out 36% of the hitters he faced, he also walked just under 20%. When he got his call back to the big leagues, that walk rate dropped, but just to 17.7%. He was just unable to go deep into games with the A's regularly, and would either deliver a gem, or use up the entire bullpen.

Again, he has tremendous potential, and he's certainly the type of pitcher that a team should seek in a deal. The A's did just over a year ago, when they shipped out lefty reliever Sam Moll to the Reds. Moll, 32, has been solid for Cincy, posting a 3.35 ERA in 2024 across 37 2/3 innings.

While Boyle didn't end up putting it all together with the A's, acquiring a player with his skillset in 2023 set up the trade for Springs heading into 2025. While Boyle isn't a polished product, the floor seems to be a guy that has a chance to be a pretty good late-inning reliever.

The rest of the trade with Tampa Bay included 2023 15th rounder Will Simpson, and 2022 fourth rounder Jacob Watters. Simpson had a breakout year, primarily in High-A Lansing, where he hit .282 with a .378 OBP and 18 home runs for the year, which included 18 games in Double-A Midland.

While A's fans were excited about his strong campaign, Baseball America is a little more reluctant, saying this after the deal. "His swing can get lengthy, but he does hit the ball relatively hard consistently with a swing geared to producing line drives. Finding at-bats for a first baseman in an organization that has Tre’ Morgan, Xavier Isaac and Bobby Seymour at the upper levels may be challenging."

Regardless of how Simpson develops, the A's were going to have a hard time finding playing time for him in 2025, at least at first base, with 2024 first rounder Nick Kurtz making the leap to Double-A ahead of Simpson. At the big-league level, they also have another former first round selection Tyler Soderstrom looking like the team's first baseman for 2025 in his first full season.

The A's used a trade from last year of a guy that wasn't likely to make the rotation out of camp, and turned him into the centerpiece of the Springs deal. They also used a 15th round pick that they helped develop a bit, and made him an intriguing flier in the swap, at the very least.

The Comp Pick certainly helped as well, but the A's managed to use a number of their resources to add Springs, who was looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball before he went down in 2023. He held a 0.56 ERA in three starts spanning 16 frames.

Now fully healthy, he could be the biggest piece of the A's turnaround in 2025.


Published
Jason Burke
JASON BURKE

Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.