Rays Rumors: Pete Fairbanks, Jeffrey Springs generating trade interest

Which beloved players will we lose this year?

The MLB Winter Meetings take place next week, and as Rays pitchers are the subject of multiple trade rumors.

The Rays closer Pete Fairbanks and stalwart starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs are garnering trade interest according to a report from Jon Morosi. It comes as no surprise that teams around the league would be interested in the two hurlers as they are both among the best there is at their craft — when healthy.

It’s also no surprise the Rays would be interested in trading either player as Springs is tied for the highest 2025 salary ($10.5M) on the roster and Fairbanks is the 5th highest, although at a reasonable $3.67M.

Both players are under team control for the 2026 season as well. Pete Fairbanks has a 2026 team option for $7M while Springs will make $10.5M in 2026 and has a team option for $15M in 2027.

Pete Fairbanks

Fairbanks, who turns 31 later this month, has been a dominant high leverage pitcher for the Rays for the past several seasons. However, he has dealt with odd injury issues that have caused him to miss significant time.

Fairbanks missed half of the 2022 season with a back issue and then endured two stints on the Injured List in 2023 and then again in 2024, with him missing the final six weeks of the season. Even while on the active roster, Fairbanks has had issues with numbness in his fingers making him unavailable at times in colder weather games.

Overall during the 2024 season, Fairbanks compiled a 3.57 ERA | 3.50 FIP with a 23.8 K% & 9.2 BB% over 45 ¹⁄₃ IP. Since the start of the 2020 season, among 129 relievers with at least 170 IP, Fairbanks has the 7th lowest FIP (2.73) and the 8th highest K% (32.0%).

Due to the injury risk, a trade of Fairbanks would be unlikely to net a top prospect, but should at least help the Rays find a major league contributor for the 2025 roster rebuild.

Jeffrey Springs

Springs joined the Rays organization after being acquired from the Boston Red Sox back in February, 2021. Shortly afterward, Springs established himself as a solid reliever capable of racking up high strikeout numbers. The Rays eventually moved him into their starting rotation, where he enjoyed a career year in 2022 as he accrued 3.1 fWAR and was rewarded with a 4-tear, $31M contract extension. In 2023, Springs looked to be even better, but only threw 16 innings before an injury resulted in Tommy John surgery, sidelining him for the rest of the season.

Springs made his return to the active roster at the end of July this past season and over 33 IP, he compiled a 3.27 ERA | 3.98 FIP with a 26.1 K% & 7.7 BB%.

Springs went on the IL in early September due to elbow fatigue. With the team out of contention, the Rays decided to shutdown Springs for the remainder of the season, despite the southpaw not actually being injured.

Rays manager Kevin Cash had this say on Springs’s health in September:

“MRI looked awesome, very encouraged, very clean. We will have him healthy for next season. [...] As much as he wants to (come back), I think we put our heads together (and felt) it’s probably best not to slow him down, build him back up and try to force an outing in there.”

[Tampa Bay Times]

Springs came to the Rays as a reliever, so having a slower build back up in innings was a logical move, even though it may hamper some of his trade value next week, but the price is certainly right.

This off-season Michael Wacha and Frankie Montas have both signed multi-year deals at $17 million AAV, and Yusei Kikuchi for even more at a $21 million AAV. Springs, a similar age, costs at least 30% less, has added protection through a team option for the third season on his contract, and has outperformed all three of those pitchers when healthy.

If anything, a team trading for Springs might also see time off as an advantage. As a former reliever and a player who missed time for an elbow injury, there are not a lot of miles on those tires compared to his peers.