MN Twins rumors: Pending physical, J.A. Happ headed to Twins
By Phil Watson
Minnesota Twins rumors: Club adds veteran J.A. Happ to rotation
The Minnesota Twins rumors lit up on Wednesday, with reports the team is signing veteran left-hander J.A. Happ to a one-year deal.
According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Happ’s agreement is pending a physical.
Left-hander J.A. Happ and the Minnesota Twins are in agreement on a one-year deal, pending physical, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 20, 2021
Minnesota have just four established starters on their 40-man roster, all of whom throw from the right side. The rotation lost left-hander Rich Hill and right-hander Jake Odorizzi to free agency, leaving the defending American League Central champs with Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios, Randy Dobnak and Michael Pineda heading into spring training.
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Happ is 38 and made nine starts last season for the New York Yankees, posting a 3.47 ERA and 1.054 WHIP in 49.1 innings. He struck out 42 and walked 15 while surrendering eight homers.
He made one relief appearance in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays, taking the ball from opener Deivi Garcia after just one inning in Game 2 with the game tied 1-1. He lasted 2.2 innings, surrendering four runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts and he allowed two-run homers to Mike Zunino in the second and Manuel Margot in the third.
This will be Happ’s 15th major league season. A third-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies out of Northwestern University in 2004, Happ debuted for the Phillies in June 2007, but didn’t stick in the bigs for good until earning a spot on the Philadelphia staff in 2009.
He was 12-4 in 35 appearances, 23 starts, and tied for the National League lead with two shutouts while finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting.
Happ has also pitched for the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays (two stints), Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was traded to the Yankees in July 2018 by Toronto, just after earning his first career All-Star Game selection.
He just completed a two-year, $34 million contract he signed in December 2018 to return to the Yankees as a free agent.
Happ has pitched in six postseasons, including each of the last three with the Bronx Bombers. He was on the roster for the Phillies in 2008, but only made one postseason appearance as Philadelphia rolled to a World Series championship.
He is a fastball/slider pitcher who added a split-finger fastball to his repertoire last season. According to FanGraphs, Happ threw the fastball nearly 66 percent of the time with an average velocity of 90.9 mph. The slider was used slightly less than 20 percent of the time at 84.1 mph on average and the splitter was his other pitch, averaging 86.5 mph.
Happ abandoned the straight change he had been using his entire career, while the usage of his curveball continues to dip, as he threw the deuce just 0.3 percent of the time in 2020, down from 0.6 percent in 2019.
He’s hung onto his velocity fairly well as he’s aged. His best season in terms of heat on the fastball was in 2014, when he averaged 92.7 mph.
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In his career, Happ has a 3.98 ERA and 1.301 WHIP in 1,741.1 innings. He’s appeared in 324 games and started 298 of those, averaging 3.2 walks and 8.0 strikeouts per nine innings, fanning a career-best 9.8 per nine in 2018 in 20 starts with the Jays and 11 with the Yankees. His career ERA+ is a slightly above average 104.