Pittsburgh Pirates fans thought the trade deadline was gone, however just a few minutes after the Mike Morse trade was reported it was also revealed that J.A. Happ had also been acquired by the Pirates.
The Pirates represent Happ’s fifth major league team. His previous stops were with the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners which were the team that traded him.
Happ has appeared in 185 games and has started 160 of them. He owns a career 55-59 record with a 4.29 ERA. This season he has appeared in 21 games, starting 20 of them. Happ is 4-6 with a 4.64 ERA on the season while owning a 0.3 WAR.
Happ’s best season came in 2009 when he went 12-4 and allowed 149 hits in 166 innings. He also posted a career best 4.0 WAR that season. Happ was voted Sporting News National League Rookie of the Year that season in addition to being named to both the Topps and Baseball America All-Rookie Teams. The Philadelphia chapter of the Baseball Writer’s Association gave him the Steve Carlton Most Valuable Player Award.
The Pirates gave up Adrian Sampson in the trade. Sampson has an 8-8 record with a 3.98 ERA in 21 starts with the team’s Triple-A affiliate Indianapolis Indians. In 124.1 innings pitched, he has allowed 137 hits and 55 earned runs. Sampson owns a 1.34 WHIP.
In a teleconference following the team’s acquisition of Joakim Soria, general manager Neal Huntington stated that it was highly unlikely that the Pirates are trading for a starting pitcher however in a separate teleconference Friday Huntington cited A.J. Burnett’s injury and that it directly influenced the desire to add a starter.
Huntington further stated that the Pirates explored various sizes of moves in regards to trading for a pitcher and Happ he stated was the best fit.
Happ started Thursday’s game and will take Burnett’s spot in the rotation. Happ was someone Huntington had liked for years and had tried to get a couple of times.
A decision will be made Huntington stated when Burnett is healthy for who the odd man out in the rotation will be.
In comparison to recent Pirates acqusition Joe Blanton, Happ has a better home-run-per-nine rate [1.13], home-run-per-flyball rate [10.3%] and WAR [3.1]. He also has a ground ball rate of 40 percent.
Happ joins Blanton, Burnett and Antonio Bastardo as former Phillies on the major league roster.
This trade places the Pirates over $100 million in team payroll.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
