Veteran J.A. Happ is heading to New York as Yankees announced an exchange with Toronto Blue Jays for Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney. Happ is a free agent come the end of the season and will add some rotational depth to the Yankees. J.A. Happ made his first ever All-Star Game this year and has been in good form, posting a 4.18 ERA in 20 starts.
A good move for the Yankees
The Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said of acquiring Happ: “That’s an area of need we’ve been trying to fill for a while, and we had targeted Happ as one of a few targets that were enviable.”
Cashman had been talking to Ross Atkins at the Blue Jays for a while, so they were able to come up with the deal to suit both sides. Yankees get an experienced player that can add a lot this season, whilst Blue Jays get Drury who was the third baseman at the start of the season for Yankees and McKinney, a former first-round pick.
Yankees might still make some more deals before the deadline
The Yankees might still do some more business before the deadline, particularly given that Gary Sanchez could be out until September. They could now be tempted to find a replacement catcher until he is back fit and available.
Blue Jays could sell more players
The Toronto Blue Jays have been busy with Seunghwan Oh moving to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for first base prospect Chad Spanberger and Forrest Wall. With the non-waiver trade deadline looming on 31 July, other players could be sold off such as Aaron Loup, Johna Axford, Tyler Clippard and Marco Estrada.
