The great news for New York Yankees fans is that baseball is coming back. Commissioner, Rob Manfred, is implementing a 60 game season that is expected to begin in late July. After all of the back and forth between the union and the owners, we are finally going to see some baseball. The season is going to be very interesting given the limit in games. I started thinking about the Yankees roster, specifically the starting rotation. One name caught my attention. The name that caught my attention was the name of the player that I wrote in my first article about for Empire Sports saying this man was inevitably going to be traded. That man would be starting pitcher, J.A. Happ.
The Yankees Vesting Mistake
So why did Happ’s name get my attention? Well the Yankees shopped Happ around in the winter after his horrendous 2019 season that saw him go 12-8 with a 4.91. If you take out his September which was actually really good, his numbers looked far worse. The Yankees signed Happ to a two-year deal worth $34 million in the 2018 offseason. Happ was a hot commodity and to sweeten the pot to secure the deal, the Yankees added in a vesting option for Happ. If he pitched over 160 innings during the 2020 season, Happ would automatically get a third year worth $17 million. Obviously, the Yankees regretted giving Happ this deal.
No innings, No 2021 pinstripes for J.A. Happ
I thought the Yankees would try to manipulate the innings somehow to prevent Happ from reaching his innings milestone. Given the amount of money the Yankees gave Gerrit Cole, and considering that they’re going to have others to pay, you had to think the Yankees were desperate to shed that contract. Well, now the Yankees don’t have to worry about it. With a 60 game season, there is going to be no way for Happ to hit his innings in 2020. With that in mind, the Yankees will let Happ walk after this year. The Yankees have plenty of options to fill his spot in the rotation, a spot that wasn’t even guaranteed going into this year. When the season starts, I hope that we see the Happ that we saw near the end of last season. If we see that guy, he will leave a good taste in the mouths of Yankee fans everywhere. Given the young talent the Yankees have, and their rotation depth, once the 2020 season is over, it’s time to say goodbye to ole J.A. Happ.