Ex-Jay Happ enjoying life with Mariners
After rocky stay in Toronto, durable left-hander getting job done in Seattle’s rotation
Of all the players who departed the Blue Jays this off-season, who would have thought the one the club misses most would be J.A. Happ?
Few tears were shed when the understated but durable lefty was dealt to Seattle for Michael Saunders, the Victoria-born outfielder who has spent most of his Jays career on the disabled list after suffering a freak knee injury in spring training.
There was far more lament for the loss of Melky Cabrera, who is struggling in his first season with the White Sox; and Brandon Morrow, who had a good first month in San Diego but is now back on the disa- bled list; and Colby Rasmus, who is hitting homers for Houston but striking out even more than he did with the Jays; and Brett Lawrie, who is starting to heat up after a brutal start in Oakland; and Adam Lind, who has admittedly been very good with Milwaukee but still can’t hit lefties and wouldn’t help the Jays’ existing log jam at first base.
But given Toronto’s pitching woes this season — their staff ERA is the highest in the American League — they sure could use an arm like Happ’s in the rotation.
The 32-year-old’s 3.61 ERA would rank first among Jays starters, and he has averaged more innings per start than every Toronto pitcher except R.A. Dickey. That’s even after Happ allowed four runs in just two innings on Thursday in a rain-aborted outing.
But that seems perfectly in line with the often overlooked veteran, who despite spending 21⁄ seasons in
2 Toronto never seemed to settle in with the Jays — or the Jays never settled with him. Maybe it was his dour demeanour or the fact he was always more serviceable than spectacular, but Happ was always an afterthought, forever on the verge of some kind of demotion.
“I don’t know why I got painted (that way), or whatever picture was out there through everything,” Happ said Friday, before the Jays and Mariners played the first of a three-game series at the Rogers Centre.
“But it certainly wasn’t always a smooth ride.”
Acquired from the Astros just before the trade deadline in 2012, Happ was shunted to the bullpen until a spot opened up in the starting rotation. Then, after the Jays’ splashy 2013 off-season, he entered spring training as the “sixth starter” behind Ricky Romero until Romero’s struggles became untenable. A month into the season, Happ was smoked in the head with a line drive and spent three months on the disabled list. It wasn’t until a couple months into 2014 that he started to, in his words, “become the pitcher I was telling (GM Alex Anthopoulos) I could be once I kind of got that regular opportunity.”
Asked why it always seemed like he had to prove himself to the Jays, Happ shrugged.
“They must have felt like they had better options. Obviously that doesn’t make the ‘sixth guy’ feel real good about his spot, so it was a challenge at times. I just tried to take advantage of the opportunities when I got them, but I was definitely trying to fight for my cause.”
Happ is enjoying himself in Seattle thus far but he says he expected to be back in Toronto, especially after pitching relatively well in the second half of last year. He was looking forward to continuing to work with Jays pitching coach Pete Walker. He doesn’t hold any grudges against the team, but he is motivated to prove the Jays wrong, as he is against all his former teams.
When the Jays’ current pitching problems were pointed out to him and it was suggested their rotation could use a stabilizing force, he smirked a little.
“I know a guy.”