Leaving the nest
Blue Jays begin selling as trade deadline approaches
The New York Yankees acquired left-hander J.A. Happ from Toronto on Thursday to bolster their starting rotation, a deal that sent infielder Brandon Drury and minor league outfielder Bill McKinney to the Blue Jays.
Happ, who turns 36 in October, is 10-6 with a 4.18 earnedrun average in 20 starts and was a first-time All-Star. He joins a rotation that includes Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Sonny Gray.
Happ has a US$13 million salary in the final season of a $36 million, three-year contract, and the Yankees are responsible for the remaining $4,543,011.
Reliever Zach Britton reported to the Yankees on Thursday, two days after he was acquired from Baltimore for three pitching prospects. Britton added $4,387,097 to the Yankees payroll. New York began the season with a $179 million payroll for purposes of the luxury tax, which left the team room to add salaries and remain under the $197 million threshold.
New York began the day 5 1/2 games behind Boston, the AL East leader. The Yankees were just 14-14 in their previous 28 games.
A 12-year major league veteran, Happ is 102-82 with a 3.95 ERA for Philadelphia (2007-10), Houston (2010-12), Toronto (2013-14, 2016-18), Seattle (2015) and Pittsburgh (2015).
Drury, who turns 26 next month, was acquired by the Yankees from Arizona in February and began the season as their starting third baseman. He went on the disabled list after the team’s eighth game because of blurred vision and migraines, and he lost his job to rookie Miguel Andujar.
Drury has played in just 10 games for New York since and has spent most of the season at Triple-A Scranton/WilkesBarre, where he is hitting .294 with five homers and 30 RBIs in 55 games. He has a $621,900 salary and has 2 years, 99 days of major league service, making it possible he could be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time next winter.
The 23-year-old McKinney was selected by Oakland with the 24th overall pick in the 2013 amateur draft, was traded to the Chicago Cubs with Addison Russell and Dan Straily for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammell in July 2014, then dealt to the Yankees along with Gleyber Torres and Adam Warren for Aroldis Chapman in July 2016.
McKinney has played two games for the Yankees, filling in on March 30-31 because of injuries to other outfielders. He is hitting .230 with 13 homers and 35 RBIs in 62 games this year for Class A Tampa, Double-A Trenton and Scranton.
Earlier Thursday, Blue Jays traded reliever Seunghwan Oh to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for minor league first baseman Chad Spanberger, outfielder Forrest Wall and a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Oh was briefly removed from the Blue Jays’ 12-6 loss in 11 innings to the Minnesota Twins before returning for extras on Wednesday, leading to speculation that he was dealt during the game.
“I started wondering why my name wasn’t being called the multiple times when I expected to go out there,” Oh said Thursday through a translator. “But then I got the call later.”
Oh is 4-3 with a 2.68 ERA, two saves and 55 strikeouts in 47 innings this season.
“I love the guy, I think he’s done a tremendous job for us,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said after being swept by the Twins.
“I don’t know if anything’s going to happen, I know the word’s out there. He’s a pretty good pitcher. He showed us a lot. Great command, great competitor.”
The 36-year-old has a 2.81 ERA and 41 saves across three major league campaigns. He spent his first two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals before signing a one-year contract with Toronto in the off-season.
Oh said he enjoyed his brief time in Toronto and had no desire to leave the Blue Jays.
“At the same time I’m very excited to join a club that’s competitive in their division right now, so I’m looking forward to contributing as soon as I get there,” he added.
Spanberger, 22, is batting .315 this season with 22 home runs and 75 RBIs in 92 games for single-A Asheville.
The 22-year-old Wall is batting .260 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs this season in 93 games with double-A Hartford and single-A California.
With CP files