Happ’s return engagement a big hit
Blue Jays had their sights set on bringing back veteran lefty all along and that’s paid off
In the immediate aftermath of Alex Anthopoulos’ abrupt departure from the Blue Jays’ front office, when Tony LaCava was serving as the team’s interim general manager, LaCava convened a meeting of the rest of the front office and established a number of free-agent targets.
One of the names at the top of their list was J.A. Happ, who entered free agency riding a stellar second half with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“As soon as we could, we wanted to be involved with him,” LaCava told the Star in a recent interview.
The Jays were of course familiar with Happ, who pitched 2 1⁄ seasons
2 in Toronto before he was dealt to Seattle for Michael Saunders before the 2015 season. But the organization’s interest in him goes back even further, to the 2009 off-season and the beginning of Anthopoulos’ tenure as GM, when his first task was to trade Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Happ, then 26 and a burgeoning prospect, was just coming off his first full season in the big leagues with the Phillies, a year in which he finished second in voting for the National League rookie of the year award.
LaCava says Happ was a primary target for the Jays in the Halladay trade negotiations, but the Phillies didn’t want to let him go. “He’s always been a guy we liked.”
As such, they were more aggressive than any other team this off-season, inking the 33-year-old to a threeyear, $36 million (U.S.) contract, which, at least for the moment, looks like a sneakily good deal.
The six-foot-six southpaw, who starts Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, is tied with Aaron Sanchez for the team lead with 11 quality starts of at least six innings and three or fewer runs allowed, while his 3.41 ERA ranks among the top 15 in the American League. But given how unremarkable Happ’s first tenure was in Toronto, the Jays’ eagerness to reacquire him was curious.
LaCava said the Jays didn’t know anything the rest of the league didn’t.
“We’re not that smart,” he said. They never wanted to trade him away in the first place, he added, because they thought he was underperforming his potential.
“I think we always believed that he was a good one, and sometimes it takes a while for a pitcher to finally put it all together and find the right mix of pitches and the right style.”
LaCava said they saw in him a pitcher who had an aptitude for making adjustments and a willingness to adapt as needed. “That’s maturity,” LaCava said. Happ said you have to reinvent yourself in order to survive in the big leagues, whether it’s learning a new pitch or simply altering your pitch sequences.
“Word gets around. If you do the same thing for a long period of time eventually momentum switches into the hitter’s favour.”
To LaCava’s point about late bloomers, last year Happ enjoyed his best season since his 2009 rookie campaign. He’s a different pitcher than he was during his first go-round with the Jays and even than he was last year. He gets fewer strikeouts but he’s more efficient. He has also varied his pitch mix, throwing more two-seam fastballs, which has led to a higher ground-ball rate.
He’s also a different person now. He’s married with an eight-monthold son, which he says has given him a different perspective on his career.
“I’m in a different part of my life,” he says.
At this point in his career Happ says he spends less time studying scouting reports and puts more trust in himself and his experience.
“I’m trusting my eyes during the game a little bit more,” he says. “Rather than trying to think back to what the scouting report said, I’m trying to think about what (the batter’s) last swing just said to me.”
Happ is also trusting himself more, which in turn has led to more confidence, enhancing his ability to compete, no matter how he feels on a given day.
“I think that’s the only way a lot of guys are able to stay in the league for a significant amount of time,” the 10-year veteran said.