Yankees ought to consider trading for left-hander J.A. Happ

As good as the Yankees offense is, and bullpen can be, the club will only go as far as its starting pitching takes them. Which is why acquiring a productive veteran like J.A. Happ could be just what they need.

Anytime the Yankees send Luis Severino to the mound; they are presumptive favorites. The problem is, the other four starters that make up the staff offer little competitive advantage, which is why the time is fast approaching to bolster the pitching corps to ease the burden, both on the bullpen and the offense.

Following Saturday’s 11-4 beat-down at the hands of the Angels, one that saw Sonny Gray revert to his “pre-personal catcher” preciseness, Gray dared to claim his stuff was good but the results weren’t. Good for a batting practice pitcher, maybe.

Gray’s staff-worst ERA now sits at 5.98 after allowing five earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched. Luckily, Masahiro Tanaka’s splitter was diving like Greg Louganis on Sunday for the 3-1 victory.

However, to open the three-game series versus the Astros on Memorial Day, rookie Domingo German tossed his third consecutive clunker. Facing off against Justin Verlander was always going to be an uphill battle, even at home, but it was a game the Yankees needed to, at the very least, make competitive.

With the Yanks losing for the fourth time in six games, German proved that he isn’t currently the man to stop the bleeding and replace injured starter Jordan Montgomery for the next five weeks or so.

Yes, German was able to settle his nerves following an early three-run homer to J.D. Davis. And, yes, miscues by Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres didn’t make things any easier. But unless you’re Masahiro Tanaka, the king of first-inning home runs, the Yankees cannot continue to allow their starters to fall behind and force the offense to play catchup, time and time again.

I have no doubt German will mature as a major league pitcher, as the 16 swings and misses in 104 pitches on Monday prove. German has also been pitching out of schedule due to his new role as a starter and not being fully stretched out as of yet.

And if the Yankees had even three steadfast starting pitchers, I’d be more than happy to write about leaving the 25-year-old in the rotation for the time being. But they don’t.

German is now 0-3 with a 5.45 ERA, 1.327 WHIP and 41:17 K:BB ratio in 34.2 innings pitched. He needs time develop — to gain a better understanding of how to properly work the strike zone — and doing so in the starting five of a club with World Series aspirations isn’t the place.

Veteran C.C. Sabathia has thrown three straight clunkers of his own, as his ERA has risen from 1.39 to 3.55 during that span. And although Tanaka was able to secure the victory in his recent outing, his ERA is a woeful 4.62, while already allowing 12 home runs on the year.

So where do the Yankees turn without giving up the farm?

We’ve seen the rumors of Cole Hamels, Chris Archer and even James Paxton jumping to the forefront of a potential Yankee wishlist.

However, each will come with their own unique price tag. The one viable arm I’ve yet to read too much about, yet probably should, is left-hander J.A. Happ.

A member of the Blue Jays, a trade for Happ would be slightly complicated because of division alignment. Yet, because the Jays (25-29) currently find themselves 12 games out of first place, and 8.5 games back of a wild-card spot, Happ could be more accessible to acquire than the rest.

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Happ, 35, is a free agent at season’s end, meaning any interested party will be hard-pressed to give away a top 10 prospect for just four or five months of service time. Depending on the type of haul the Jays asked for, the Yankees would then only need to pay the remainder of the $13 million Happ is making this season, meaning they could still acquire him and not exceed the luxury tax threshold.

Although adding a 35-year-old with over 1400 career innings on his arm comes with some level of risk, Happ continues to be outstanding for a below average Toronto team.

On the season, Happ is 7-3 with a 3.84 ERA, 1.112 WHIP and 79:18 K:BB ratio in 65.2 innings pitched. In Happ’s latest outing versus the Phillies on Sunday, he scattered six hits, two walks and two earned runs over 6.2 innings while striking out eight.

For those that would prefer the Yankees to acquire Hamels over Happ potentially, the former comes with a bunch of contract stipulations.

Not only does Hamels have a no-trade clause which includes the Yanks (meaning he’d likely want to restructure his deal in years and dollars to approve a trade), but Hamels is currently set with a $20 million club option for 2019 if he pitches over 400 innings between 2017-18; 200 innings this season or doesn’t end the season on the DL with a back or shoulder ailment. There’s also a $6 million buyout for 2019 if the club sees fit.

The two left-handers have been almost identical over the past four seasons: Happ is 48-26 with a 4.37 ERA while Hamels is 42-24 with a 3.68 ERA.

Next: Time to convert one-position players into multi-position players

For me, if the choice presents itself, I’d go with Happ, hands down. Jordan Montgomery very much reminds me of a young J.A., so who better than to learn from, especially if the Yanks were to re-sign Happ instead of Sabathia moving forward.