Toronto Blue Jays Pick Up J.A. Happ’s Option
By Ed Carroll
The Toronto Blue Jays have exercised their club option on starting pitcher J.A. Happ, and will pay the starting pitcher $6.7 million in the 2015 MLB season.
Expect J.A. Happ to be in the Toronto Blue Jays starting rotation, as the team exercised an option to keep Happ in the fold for the 2015 season, paying him $6.7 million rather than a $200,000 buyout:
the jays will exercise j.a. happ's $6.7M club option
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 1, 2014
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Happ is now 32, and a long way from his days as a former
prospect, but he’s still a useful starter, particularly at less than $7 million. Happ pitched in 30 games, and started 26 of them, posting a 4.22 ERA in 158 innings pitched, the second-highest innings total of his career and the most he’s had since 2009.
His walk rate dropped dramatically in 2014, going from a 4.37 BB/9 ratio in 2013 to allowing 2.91 walks per nine innings this season, an impressive improvement. He also struck out 133 batters this season as opposed to 77 in 2013, so it looks like there’s certainly some gas left in Happ’s tank.
He’s unlikely to be the team’s ace, or even among the Jays’s best starters, but at $6.7 million for a known commodity, the decision to pick up Happ’s option was a simple one for Toronto.
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