My Two Cents: Adding Jeffrey Springs to Rotation Best Move Rays Made All Year
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For going on 15 years now, the majority of the time that the Tampa Bay Rays do something unconventional, it's usually worked out. That's why they've won two American League pennants and made the playoffs seven times, all the while working with a shoestring budget.
Not everything they touch turns to gold, though it sure seems like it at times. And their latest bold move — adding long-time reliever Jeffrey Springs to the starting rotation — is their best move yet this season.
Springs being an every-day starter every fourth or fifth day has made this team dramatically better.
"He was awesome again,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said of Springs' six scoreless innings during the Rays' 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuersday night at Tropicana Field. "I just continue to be so impressed with his work and the way that he's turned himself into a pretty good starting pitcher on the fly here.''
On the fly is the operative phrase with Springs, a 6-foot-3 left-hander who will be 30 in September. To say he was a journeyman through the early part of his career might be an understand. This is his fifth season, but he had a 6.40 earned run average in 2019, the second of his two years with the Texas Rangers, and a 7.08 ERA during his one year in Boston in 2020.
Frankly, after two dismal seasons, it looked like his career might be over.
Tampa Bay has often been a place of reclamation for pitchers once they get in the Rays' system, and Springs is no exception. He allowed only one run in 13 innings of relief to start the season. He's made seven starts now, and the Rays have only lost twice. He pitched well in Los Angeles against the Angels, but made a mistake to Jared Walsh and gave up a three-run homer. He lost to the Yankees, too, but he pitched great in the 2-0 loss and got zero run support. That's how good he's been.
The key is that Springs has mastered all three of his pitches now, and isn't afraid to throw his four-seam fastball, slider or change-up at any time. He's great at confusing hitters because he throws the fast about 41 percent of the time, the slider about 31 percent and the change-up, which keeps getting better every outing and is very hard to pick up, 28 percent of the time.
It's a solid repertoire.
"I felt like I was able to mix-and-match pretty well tonight,'' Springs said after Tuesday's dramatic win, which ended on a three-run homer by Taylor Walls in the bottom of the 10th inning. "There were some two-strike counts that I wish I could have made some better pitches on, but credit to them. They are good hitters, and when I did miss by a little bit, they were able to put the ball in play.
"But I felt pretty good. I had those two walks; I'm not too keen on those. I take a lot of pride in challenging hitters, but the Cardinals, they understand the strike zone really well and they are very disciplined hitters. Overall, I'm happy with it. There's some takeaways that I want to try to fix moving forward, but I feel pretty good about my outing. Every time I give my team a chance to win, that makes me feel good.''
Springs did a terrific job of working out of some trouble, too. He erased a first-inning walk with a double play, got out of a second-and-third jam in the second inning with a lazy fly ball to end the inning, gave up two singles in the fourth but got out of it and stranded Paul Goldschmidt at second in the fifth, ending the threat after his two-out double. He got All-Star Nolan Arenado to ground out to end the inning.
He threw 92 pitches total in his six innings, a career high. And he made a lot of his best pitches with two outs, getting his team into the dugout with no runs going up on the board.
"That's definitely a positive, getting out of innings there and knowing the best way to attack each hitter in those situations and get outs when I need to,'' Springs said "Whether it will be a ground ball or a pop-up or knowing when to get a strikeout, it's just all about learning from every scenario, and getting better each time out.''
He's certainly gained the respect of his teammates quickly.
"That boy is nasty,'' said Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who saved a huge run in the 10th inning with a perfect throw to home. "He's been a reliever forever and then he comes over here and starts. Once again, the Rays figure out a way to put guys in position to succeed. He's going to be a starter for many years to come.
"He's been great for us since Day 1, but now as a starter, look at him. He's nasty, he's very deceptive and he always keeps hitters off balance.''
Rays reliever J.P Feyereisen mentioned that Springs still has that bulldog mentality of a relief pitcher who might only be going an inning or two at a time. He goes after that third out hard, and it shows.
"We miss him hanging out down in the bullpen, because he's such a good guy,'' Rays reliever J.P. Feyereisen said a few weeks ago. "But it doesn't surprise me one bit what he's doing because he's got such good stuff, and he can throw any pitch in any count and be confident that he can get guys out.
"I think that reliever mentality probably helps him at times, especially in some tense two-out situations, he finds a way to get an inning over. All he does now that's different is he moves on to the next inning. I'm really happy for him, no doubt, and I don't think there's any question he makes us a better team right now as a starter. We know what we're going to get every four or five days, and that's always a comforting feeling. He's always going to give us a chance to win.''
It was a bold move, putting him in the rotation, but it's worked out perfectly for Springs and Rays management.
Imagine that.
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Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.