MLB Official meets with the mayor of San Jose

By Craig CalcaterraApr 7, 2010, 9:28 AM EDT
Leave a comment

Three things occurred in the Bay Area yesterday:

  • Continued silence from Bud Selig’s little committee about what will become of the Athletics;

I know Selig and Lew Wolff have some incentives to drag all this out — like, trying to buy some time during which they can figure out how to buy off the Giants and sucker the people of San Jose into thinking that they’re not using public resources to benefit a rich real estate developer — but sometimes a mercy killing is the best route for the goodwill of the patient.  It’s been over a year since it became clear to everyone that the A’s were going to San Jose. Maybe it would have been best to get that ball rolling a while ago.

Yankees, Mariners expressing interest in J.A. Happ

Getty Images
By Craig CalcaterraJun 18, 2018, 11:29 AM EDT
Leave a comment

Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the Yankees and Mariners are both expressing interest in Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ.

Happ is posting a 3.48 ERA and a 94/25 K/BB ratio in 82.2 innings across 14 starts and has been stingy with the hits as well. Between that, the Blue Jays’ lack of contention and the fact that Happ is in the walk year of his three-year, $36 million deal, all signs point to the Jays trading them.

In normal circumstances you might not expect the Jays to make a trade with the Yankees, but at this point it sort of doesn’t matter, does it? It’s not like Happ in New York on a couple month rental will impact the 2018 Jays too much. And, given his pending free agency, it’s not extraordinarily likely that he’d haunt the Jays from the Bronx long term either.

There’s not a ton of elite pitching currently available, but as the trade deadline approaches — a little over a month to go on that score — the talk about Happ, Cole Hamels, Francisco Liriano and others will heat up. Figure the Yankees will be linked with any and all available starters.