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Posted on 07/26/2018 2:36:39 PM PDT by TBP
The Yankees have completed their second intra-division swap of the week, officially acquiring left-hander J.A. Happ from the Blue Jays in exchange for infielder Brandon Drury and outfield prospect Billy McKinney. Both teams have announced the swap.
Happ, 35, is in the final season of a three-year, $36MM contract and is still owed $4.75MM of that sum through the end of the season. He’ll step into a Yankees rotation that currently features Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Sonny Gray. Since losing sophomore lefty Jordan Montgomery to Tommy John surgery, the Yankees have tried Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa in that fifth spot, but Happ will now provide a more experienced arm to step into that void.
While he struggled badly in a pair of early July starts (one against the Yankees) that inflated his season-long numbers, Happ has enjoyed a strong season overall. Through 114 1/3 frames, he’s registered a 4.18 ERA with more impressive marks in FIP (3.84), xFIP (3.63) and SIERA (3.51). Happ has averaged a career-high 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched against just 2.8 walks per nine, and he’s kept the ball on the ground at a 44.6 percent clip. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the year, making him the Yankees’ second short-term addition of the week after landing Zach Britton in yet another intra-division trade.
The Blue Jays are surely thrilled to be able to pick up a controllable MLB asset in the form of Drury in exchange for a player who was set to depart via free agency at the end of the year anyhow. Drury was the Yankees’ Opening Day third baseman, but he quickly became an odd man out in the Bronx after both Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres emerged in the Majors while Drury was on the DL due to severe migraines and blurred vision.
Brandon Drury | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
While Drury, 25, has batted just .176/.263/.275 in 57 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2018, he’d previously established himself as a solid producer with the Diamondbacks from 2016-17. In that time, Drury batted a combined .273/.323/.453 with 29 homers, 68 doubles and three triples over the life of 979 PAs. He’s capable of handling both second base and third base, so with Josh Donaldson set to hit free agency this winter plus Devon Travis’ perennial injury troubles, Drury is all the more appealing to the Toronto organization. The Jays can control Drury through the 2021 season.
The inclusion of McKinney in the deal will somewhat incredibly mark the third trade since being selected in the first round (No. 24 overall) of the 2013 draft. The A’s selected McKinney out Plano West Senior High School and traded him just over a year later in the deal that sent Addison Russell to the Cubs in exchange for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. McKinney was moved once again in 2016 when the Cubs included him as part of the four-player package that netted them Aroldis Chapman (with the aforementioned Torres as the deal’s headliner).
McKinney, 23, made his MLB debut earlier this season and went 1-for-4 before being sent back down to the minors after appearing in two games. He’s hit for plenty of power in Triple-A this season (.273 ISO), but he’s also struggled to get on base. Through 228 PAs, he’s slashing .230/.294/.502 with 13 homers, eight doubles and five triples. McKinney isn’t regarded as the top-tier prospect he once was, but he entered the season ranked as the Yankees’ No. 20 prospect by Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, receiving average grades for his power, speed and glove. He played center early on in his career but has been utilized more in the outfield corners recently.
Where does Happ fit in the rotation? Ahead of Gray probably, but ahead of Tanaka or CC Sabathia?
Yes, I realize Happ strengthens the rotation and makes the club better the rest of this season and in October. Got it. But he's unlikely to be re-signed. He's a placeholder until young southpaw Justus Sheffield is ready. He buys time for Sheffield to develop. This is a lot to give up for 10 starts.
In a period of about 36 hours, every team in the American League East has made at least one trade — and the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rays have made made two each.
Something needed to be done as dreading the next Sonny Gray start is an issue. Also, can’t have enough lefties in Yankees Stadium.
They got to keep up with the Astros.
It doesn’t sound like a smart move on its face, but the Yankees are actually facing a problem in the off-season where they would lose prospects in the Rule 5 draft. Basically, they can only protect 40 players in the draft ... and they would lose some good prospects because of this roster limit anyway. That’s why they’re more willing to part with some of these minor leaguers in trades that don’t seem like good deals right now.
It’s crazy that the Yankees could easily win 100 games, but not win the division since the Red Sox are so hot.
Subject for another time and place, perhaps, but the Yankees may face the one game wild card playoff game, while other division winners may have won far fewer games. This is a fine Yankees team but their bad luck is seeing the Red Sox having one if their best years ever.
I agree.
The Yankees don’t need DeGrom. What they need is some guys to chew up big innings, and a couple of hitters who can actually put the ball in play with runners on base. For all the hype about the Yankees, they are a very poorly constructed team that can score a ton of runs but has also been shut down by some pretty marginal pitchers. They’re hitting lower than .170 with runners in scoring position over the last two months. With a lineup like this, they couldn’t win a playoff series even if they had a five-man starting rotation of Koufax, Seaver, Ryan, Carlton and Maddux.
awaiting headline Oh Happ-y Day
The Yankees should have gotten Jacob deGrom.
Sonny Gray cannot handle the pressure of playing for a big-market, win-now team like NY.
Tanaka, Sabathia, Gray, Happ, Severino sounds like a good rotation.
We’ll see.
The Red Sox has David Price, and he’s so-so in innings.
At the rate try are going they will be lucky to make the playoffs.
Don’t be shocked if this team collapses down the stretch and doesn’t even make the one-game wild card playoff.
Their salaries should be based on end of the year performance only, not future hoped for performance.
As a Rays fan, my first reaction was that Archer won't be putting on the pinstripes anytime soon. He probably wants to go to Beantown to reunite with his mentor Price, but it wouldn't surprise me if Archer is still on the Rays in 2019. We're cleaning out all our journeymen to rebuild a strong young team, but we need at least three decent arms, and that would be Snell, Faria, and Archer, probably in that order.
(P.S. Alex Cobb has to be kicking himself for leaving the Rays to get stuck with the O's.)
I'm not sure who is stuck with who. He's 2-13 with a 6.17 ERA.
Astros are missing some opportunities.
Astros need a closer.
He takes the place of the drek that took over for Monty. It is quintessential to win the division, so they don't have to play Russian roulette with the wildcard playoff game. Every trip around the rotation with and automatic loss set the Yankees behind the Sox. Now, they get a veteran to keep them in the game. So when the Yankees play the remaining 10 games with the Sox, they don't have to win 9 of 10 to just get back into the race.
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