Ex-Red Sox Pitcher Reportedly Signs Lucrative Contract Extension With Rays
There have been plenty of notable blunders under Chaim Bloom's regime with the Boston Red Sox.
However, one of Bloom's worst trades in his three-season tenure has flown under the radar.
Prior to the 2021 season, Bloom packaged left-hander Jeffrey Springs, right-hander Chris Mazza and cash to the Tampa Bay Rays for catching prospect Ronaldo Hernández and infield prospect Nick Sogard.
At the time, it appeared that Boston "stole" Hernández, a once-highly regarded prospect for two pitchers who had yet to prove anything.
Mazza did not catch on in Tampa, but Springs has flourished into an elite arm, and his freshly-minted contract depicts as much.
Springs signed a four-year, $31 million contract extension with the Rays that could pay him up to $65.75 million over the next five seasons according to the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin.
The 30-year-old posted a 7.08 ERA with a 28-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .333 batting average against in 20 1/3 innings across 16 games as a member of the Red Sox before being traded.
Since then? He's gone on to record a 14-6 record, 2.70 ERA, 207-to-45 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .221 batting average against in 180 innings.
The southpaw's devastating combination of a high strikeout rate, low walk rate and low batting average against resulted in a career year in 2022, highlighted by a 2.46 ERA.
As for Boston's half of the trade? Hernández has been called up to the big-league club twice but has yet to appear in a game. Sogard got his first taste of Triple-A last season. Both prospects already are 25 years old.
There was no way to know that Springs was going to evolve into a star after a horrid 2020 season but it's still tough to get fleeced in an inter-division trade.
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