Report: Red Sox interested in starter J.A. Happ
98.5 The Sports Hub staff report
In dire need of some rotation help, the Boston Red Sox are showing interest in veteran starter J.A. Happ, according to a new report from MLB Network’s Jon Morosi.
Sources: #RedSox showing interest in J.A. Happ, and perhaps we should have seen this coming: Happ, 38, has thrown more IP at Fenway (66-2/3) than any ballpark he has not called home -- and he has a 2.57 ERA in his career there. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 23, 2020
Familiar with Boston from his time in both Toronto and New York, Morosi’s reasoning is sound as can be. And any lefty with a 2.57 career ERA at Fenway Park should be on the team’s radar, to be honest.
A Yankee for the last three seasons, the 6-foot-5 Happ is coming off a 2020 campaign that featured a 2-2 record and 3.47 ERA, along with 42 strikeouts, in 49.1 innings of work. Prior to the coronavirus-delayed and shortened 2020 season, Happ posted 12 wins in 30 starts in 2019, and a 21-10 record over his three seasons with the Bombers.
Happ, who has spent his 14-year career between six different organizations, was certainly at his best back in 2016, when he posted a 20-4 record and 3.18 ERA in 32 starts for the Blue Jays on the way to finishing sixth in the Cy Young race.
If signed, Happ would represent a Martin Perez replacement at the back of Boston’s rotation, and give the Red Sox a veteran lefty backup option in the event that Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale, both of whom missed the entire 2020 season, fail to bounce back from their health issues.
The 38-year-old Happ has a career 123-92 record and 3.98 ERA.
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