Jeffrey Springs Set for A's Debut Against Seattle Mariners

The A's will be sending their other big offseason addition, Jeffrey Springs, to the mound on Friday. He'll be opposed by Luis Castillo, yet another of the M's big arms in the rotation.

Springs was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in December for Joe Boyle and a couple of prospects. When healthy, Springs has been one of the best pitchers in the game in recent seasons. The big question for him heading into this season will be how he bounces back from Tommy John surgery, and how many innings he'll be able to provide.

In seven appearances against the Athletics, Castillo is 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA, while Springs has made just two starts against Seattle, going 7.2 innings and giving up a single run on four hits and two walks while striking out 12. His most recent was last season in an 11-4 win for the Rays. Springs went five scoreless innings and gave up just one hit while striking out nine.

Bullpens

Given that this is just the second game of the season, nearly everyone should be available in this game.

Last night, the A's used Tyler Ferguson (1 IP, run (0 ER), 2 BB), José Leclerc (1/3 IP, 2 hits, 3 ER, BB, K, 2 HR) and T.J. McFarland (2/3 IP).

On the other side, Seattle used Trent Thornton (1 IP, ER, K, HR) and Andres Muñoz (1 IP, BB, K).

Lineups

The big difference in the A's lineup is that Tyler Soderstrom has been moved up from sixth to fifth, while Seth Brown will in be left field, batting sixth. Last night it was Miguel Andujar that was in left, hitting ahead of Soderstrom.

For the Mariners, Cal Raleigh will be the team's DH, while still hitting third. Luke Raley hit fifth last night, but gets today off against the left-hander, while Mitch Garver slots into his spot in the order. Donovan Solano replaces Rowdy Tellez at first base, and Dylan Moore takes over at second while Ryan Bliss gets the night off.

In order to get back to even, the A's will need to rack up more base runners and a couple of timely hits. They'll also need their key arms in the bullpen (Ferguson, Leclerc) to perform as expected to get the ball to Mason Miller with a lead.

Other Notes

Milestone tracker: José Leclerc needs 26 strikeouts for 500 career…Luis Severino needs 45 strikeouts for 1,000 career

This date in Athletics history: In 2012 the A’s open the regular season in Japan with a 3-1, 11-inning loss to Seattle...Brandon McCarthy allows just one run in seven innings and Kurt Suzuki has a RBI double...in 2019 Mike Fiers, Lou Trivino, Joakim Soria and Blake Treinen combine on a three-hit shutout in the A’s 4-0 win over Los Angeles in Oakland’s Coliseum opener after playing two games
in Japan.