Minnesota Twins do something, sign LHP J.A. Happ
The Minnesota Twins have done little so far this offseason, and on Wednesday they signed...J.A. Happ.
While the Chicago White Sox have added pieces, the Cleveland Indians traded away their best player and the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals have signed a couple guys, the Minnesota Twins have signed reliever Hansel Robles and otherwise sat on their hands.
Until Wednesday. According to multiple reports, the Twins have signed left-hander J.A. Happ to a one-year, $8 million deal.
Over nine starts (49.1 innings) for the New York Yankees last season, Happ had a 3.47 ERA with a 7.7 K/9 (21.4% strikeout rate), a 2.7 BB/9 (7.7% walk rate) and a 1.054 WHIP. Deeper metrics like FIP (4.57) and SIERA (4.53) paint a picture of good fortune. Statcast had him above the 50th percentile in several of its metrics, but his whiff rate and fastball velocity were in just the 22nd and 21st percentiles respectively. The Twins will be the 38 year old’s seventh team.
The Twins signing Happ for the back end of the rotation is a sure sign they won’t be re-signing Jake Odorizzi. He will replace Rich Hill as the lefty to break up a group of right-handers (Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios, Michael Pineda, Randy Dobnak). $8 million feels like a lot too, but overall I mostly yawn at the prospect of Happ in the Twins’ rotation this year. An ERA better than 4.00 over 25-30 boring outings with boring peripherals is the upside.