The Toronto Blue Jays further addressed their starting rotation with a free agent signing on Friday. The club inked J.A. Happ to a three-year, $36 million deal exactly one week after acquiring Jesse Chavez from the Oakland Athletics.
Happ, a nine-year MLB veteran, spent 2012-2014 with the Blue Jays before the team traded him to the Seattle Mariners last offseason in exchange for outfielder Michael Saunders. The 33-year-old was then traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates before this year's non-waiver deadline and earned himself millions in free agency after posting a 1.85 ERA in 11 starts.
.@BlueJays have signed LHP J.A. Happ to a 3-year deal worth $36 million (US). Welcome back, J.A.! pic.twitter.com/zAfaBSBgtZ
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) November 28, 2015
J.A. Happ gets $10m in 2016, $13m 2017 and 2018 in three-year deal with #BlueJays. Get another SP without surrendering picks/prospects
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) November 28, 2015
In three seasons with Toronto, the left-hander went 19-20 with a 4.39 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 58 games (50 starts). He finished 11-8 with a 3.61 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 151 strikeouts in 32 games (31 starts), totaling 172 innings this past season.
His return to Toronto comes as a surprise, as rumors linked Happ elsewhere. Additionally, the Blue Jays seemingly had their starting rotation settled with Chavez, Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada (signed two-year deal), R.A. Dickey and Drew Hutchison.
"Toronto currently has a projected rotation of Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey and Happ," writes Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com. "Jesse Chavez, Drew Hutchison and Aaron Sanchez are among the top candidates to compete for the final spot, but it also seems likely the Blue Jays will look for additional upgrades."
It's unknown how many more (if any) upgrades they'll seek because they also need to address their bullpen, which lost Liam Hendriks in the Chavez trade last week as well as LaTroy Hawkins (retirement) and Mark Lowe (free agency). Brett Cecil is also coming off a significant injury he suffered in the postseason.
This is the second notable transaction conducted by the Blue Jays' front office following general manager Alex Anthopoulos' departure. Perhaps new president and CEO Mark Shapiro and interim GM Tony LaCava have other plans in store as the Winter Meetings are set to begin on Dec. 6.
