When Tampa Bay Rays southpaw starter Jeffrey Springs was removed from the fourth inning two weeks ago, he grabbed his left elbow and flexed his pitching hand. It was a terrible sight that we've seen far too many times and, sure enough, the news that has since followed is not good.
Springs, who was originally diagnosed with left ulnar neuritis, will have Tommy John surgery, manager Kevin Cash told reporters Saturday (per the Tampa Bay Times). The procedure is generally done to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow and sidelines pitchers at least a year and likely upwards of 15 or 16 months.
Unfortunately, that means the Rays are without Springs well into the 2024 season, if he's even able to return next year at all. Any setbacks would knock him out for that season, too.
Springs, 30, had a breakout season for the Rays last year and looked like an All-Star -- even a way early Cy Young candidate -- this season. Last year, he made 25 starts and appeared in relief eight times, working 135 1/3 innings. He was 9-5 with a 2.46 ERA (149 ERA+), 1.07 WHIP and 144 strikeouts against 31 walks. In his three starts this season, Springs was 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA, 0.50 WHIP and 24 strikeouts against four walks in 16 innings.
In the short-term, pitching prospect Taj Bradley has been called up from the minors and veteran righty Zach Eflin is set to return from the injured list Sunday. Tyler Glasnow is on track to return from an oblique injury around late May and that would give the Rays a full rotation with Shane McClanahan, Glasnow, Eflin, Drew Rasmussen and whoever they want in the five spot between Bradley, Josh Fleming or someone else from the pitching-rich system.
Still, losing Springs is a huge blow. It looked like the Rays might be rolling out a trio of ace-caliber pitchers once Glasnow settled in.
If there's a silver lining here for Springs, it would be that he finally came into his own as a quality major-league pitcher just shy of his 30th birthday and scored a four-year, $31 million extension this past January. He hadn't made even $1 million in a season until signing that deal.
The Rays spotted themselves a nice cushion to start the season with a 13-0 record out of the gate. They are 17-3 with an MLB best plus-84 run differential in the early going.
