Left-hander J.A. Happ on Friday signed a three-year deal worth $36 million with the Toronto Blue Jays, according to MLB Roster Moves.
It will be Happ's second stint with the Blue Jays after he spent two-plus seasons in Toronto beginning in 2012.
With the Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, Happ posted a winning record for the first time since 2010, when he was with the Houston Astros. He also struck out a career-high 151 batters in 172 innings.
The turnaround came after he was traded to the Pirates in the last few hours before the deadline. After starting the season 4-6 with a 4.64 ERA in Seattle, Happ finished 7-2 with a 1.85 ERA while donning black and gold.
Most of the credit could go to Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, per Travis Sawchik of TribLive.com:
Searage saw Happ using inefficient movement in his delivery. Instead of striding directly to home plate, Happ, like [Francisco] Liriano and [Edinson] Volquez, had too much rotational movement in his motion[,] which dropped his arm slot and made the ball easier to track for opposing hitters. It also negatively impacted his control.
New motion and all, Happ is a nice pickup for the Blue Jays, who are looking to build up their rotation. Toronto had a potent offense that led the league in scoring last season, but the team's pitching prevented it from getting over the American League Champion Series hump and into the World Series.
The Blue Jays recently re-signed Marco Estrada, who at times last season was their second-best starter, and acquired Jesse Chavez in a trade with the Oakland Athletics. They also have R.A. Dickey, and Happ could step into the middle of the rotation.
If Toronto is able to sign David Price, whom it traded for at the deadline, and the young Marcus Stroman puts together a full season, the Blue Jays rotation could be one of the American League's stronger units.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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