HOUSTON — Monday, J.A. Happ was pitching both for a team that’s traded him and against a team that’s traded him. And in about four weeks’ time, he’ll almost certainly have been traded again, making it five times in his MLB career.
That says a few things. For starters, it indicates what a commodity Happ has been over his dozen seasons in the majors. A lot of teams have desired his services. The Blue Jays, who he pitches for today, have even desired them twice — trading for Happ in 2012, trading him away in 2014, and then signing him as a free agent in 2015.
It also tells you that while he’s been a very good pitcher throughout his MLB career, posting a 3.89 ERA over 243 starts, Happ has never been quite good enough to receive the kind of lengthy, high-value contract that can make a player practically unmovable. The best he’s done is the three-year, $33-million deal he’s currently completing, one that was questioned when the Blue Jays offered it to him, but has turned out to be an overwhelming success for the club.
And it says Happ is no stranger to the circumstance he finds himself in now. With only five weeks remaining until MLB’s non-waiver trade deadline, Happ is one of the best — if not the best — starting pitchers available. Cole Hamels is right up there with him, and Tyson Ross is having a quietly strong season. But the drop off from there among known trade candidates is awfully steep.
It all explains why Happ, a 35-year-old pending free agent, has been so dependable as he motors toward an uncertain future. He’s been through it before. And if he ends up somewhere next season on a one or two-year pact, he might go through it again.
For now, all he can do is pitch his best each time out. And while Monday’s start was far from his finest work, he still weaved his way to a quality start against one of the most threatening lineups in baseball — a batting order he very well could face again come the postseason if he’s traded to an American League contender. And thanks to that, plus a pair of home runs from Curtis Granderson and an absolute bomb off the bat of Randal Grichuk, the Blue Jays earned a series-opening victory over the Houston Astros, 6-3.
"It was a battle all night long," Happ said. "Mentally, it was a taxing game. That’s a good lineup over there, for sure."
Yes, Happ was good in aggregate Monday, but he’s had better beginnings. He allowed a run in the first, when Yuli Gurriel drove in Jose Altuve, who hit a two-out double a batter earlier. And another in the third when Alex Bregman went down to get a breaking ball and lifted it 354-feet to left, which is a deep fly ball in a lot of yards, but enough for a home run at Minute Maid Park.
And Happ worked himself into more trouble from there, allowing back-to-back two-out singles before walking Evan Gattis to load the bases. That brought up Marwin Gonzalez, who gave Happ a great battle, fouling off four pitches including a couple that were nearly fair up the line, before flying out to end the threat.
All those baserunners forced Happ to burn through 68 pitches in only three innings. And after Bregman drove in another run with a two-out single in the fourth, Happ walked back to the dugout having used 81 pitches to get only 12 outs.
This was a concerning turn of events for the Blue Jays, who were operating with an exceptionally thin bullpen Monday. Four of the relievers Blue Jays manager John Gibbons prefers to go to in high leverage situations — Ryan Tepera, Tyler Clippard, Seung-hwan Oh, and Aaron Loup — had pitched back-to-back games coming into the night, while both John Axford and Joe Biagini had pitched the day before as well.
That’s why it was so crucial that Happ settled in after that fourth inning and retired his next six in order with only 23 pitches, stretching an outing that looked like it may end early all the way through six innings. It was the 10th time Happ’s completed six or more frames in 16 starts this season. He’s failed to complete five only twice.
"That was nice. I was aware that we were probably a little bit thin in our pen. So, I’m trying to go as far as I could, for sure," Happ said. "In the second part of my outing, I think my two-seam fastball was better — I was able to locate it a little bit better. I used it more to get some groundballs."
Meanwhile, Toronto hitters had the MLB ERA leader to contend with, as Justin Verlander took the mound for an Astros outfit that had lost only twice in its last 17.
Steep odds, certainly — but the Blue Jays managed to make Verlander work early, forcing him to throw 26 pitches in a two-run first. The damage was done when Justin Smoak cashed a pair by drilling a full-count fastball up the right field line for a double.
Toronto had a golden opportunity in the third, as Granderson walked and Teoscar Hernandez drove a double into the left field corner, putting two in scoring position with none out. But Verlander was in vintage form from there, getting an infield pop-up from Yangervis Solarte before striking out Kendrys Morales and Smoak to strand the runners.
"We felt pretty good. We have second and third, no outs. And then you could see [Verlander] just turned it up and we came up empty with our third, fourth and five hitters up there," Gibbons said. "And you’re sitting there going, ugh — because you know you’re only going to get so many opportunities."
Verlander cruised from there, with the exception of two plate appearance by Granderson. In the fifth, the Blue Jays right fielder got hold of an 0-2 fastball and parked it in the right field seats. And in the seventh, Granderson got Verlander again, this time lofting a 98-mph fastball over that near wall in left.
Neither ball was hit particularly hard (the two homers had exit velocities of 95- and 93-m.p.h.), particularly far (they traveled 358- and 342-feet), or with a particularly high hit probability (StatCast gave the first one a 26 per cent probability, and the second only 17). But all that matters is they left the yard, giving Granderson his eighth and ninth homers of the season, and making him the first player to hit two against Verlander in a single game since J.J. Hardy did it five years ago.
"He’s a competitor. He’s one of the best guys in the game. His numbers continue to show it year after year. He’s going to come at you. He’s going to challenge you. You’ve just got to be ready to try to match the intensity, hopefully get something around the middle of the plate," Granderson said. "The first pitch was up, I was happy to get to it. The second one, you’ve got to thank Minute Maid Ballpark for that. The dimensions helped me a little bit there."
And while the two homers Granderson hit weren’t exactly crushed, the one Grichuk hit in the eighth absolutely was. With two out and a runner on, Grichuk got every ounce of his barrel on a 1-0 fastball from Astros reliever Will Harris, driving it 471-feet to left-centre, where it bounced off a stanchion holding up the outfield lights. It was the longest home run a Blue Jay has hit this season, and tied Aaron Judge for the eighth-longest hit across the majors in 2018.
The launch angle on Randal Grichuk’s home run. (Courtesy: Baseball Savant)
And if that wasn’t impressive enough, Grichuk made the play of the game in the bottom of the ninth, as George Springer drove what should have been a three-run shot deep to right off Blue Jays reliever Seunghwan Oh. The only thing in the way was Grichuk, who reached up and over the right field wall to pull the ball back and preserve Toronto’s lead.
"Those are the plays you dream of, you don’t get them too often," Grichuk said. "I didn’t even feel it go in the mitt. I came back, hit the ground, looked in there, and saw I caught it."
After Grichuk bailed him out, Oh finished things off from there, picking up his second save of the year. And Happ won his 10th game of the season pitching both for a team that’s traded him and against a team that’s traded him. He may only have a month left in a Blue Jays uniform. He may have even less. But if he’s at all bothered by the uncertainty of his situation, he’s not showing it. After all, he’s been here a few times before.
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