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Blue Jays active early on in offseason to improve pitching depth

J.A. Happ, Toronto Blue Jays (The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese)
J.A. Happ, Toronto Blue Jays (The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese)

MLB's Winter Meetings are still over a week away but that hasn't stopped the Blue Jays from being active early during hot stove season.

They've already made three moves to address their starting pitching as they prepare to move forward without David Price.

Friday night Toronto announced they had signed left-hander J.A. Happ to a three-year, $36 million contract. The Blue Jays also re-signed Marco Estrada to a two-year deal and swung a trade with Oakland for right-hander Jesse Chavez.

At first glance Happ's contract seems a bit much for a 33-year-old starter who has a career 4.13 ERA and has never thrown more than 175 innings in a season. However, Happ, who pitched for the Jays from 2012-14, flourished after winding up in Pittsburgh in a trade deadline deal. Working with well-regarded Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage, Happ made a couple significant mechanical adjustments and found success right away. Happ was ranked as the No. 35 best available free agent on Jeff Passan's Ultimate Free-Agent Tracker, where Passan accurately predicted Happ would sign somewhere for three years.

Happ went through Ray Searage and Jim Benedict’s Magic Pitching Revitalization Machine and came out a hot commodity. Sneaky old – he’s 33 – Happ should get three years after throwing 63 1/3 innings of 1.85 ERA ball with peripherals to match down the stretch for the Pirates.

As it stands Marcus Stroman, Estrada, Happ, R.A. Dickey, and Chavez make up the Blue Jays' 2016 rotation with Drew Hutchison still lurking as the wild-card. By no means is that going to excite, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective. The hope is that Marcus Stroman continues to develop into a frontline starter, Dickey puts in another season of 200-plus innings, and Estrada and Happ perform like they did last year. With all they key members from the league's best offence coming back, that should be enough to make Toronto a contender in the AL East.

Certainly don't rule out the possibility of another trade, either. Dickey, Hutchison, and even Chavez could be flipped along with a position player (Dalton Pompey and Kevin Pillar have been thrown out there as possibilities) for a more dependable or higher-upside starter.

Price's expected $200 million price tag is simply too rich for Toronto's taste. So instead of spending $25 million per season on one starting pitcher, the Blue Jays decided it would be best to split that money between three of them.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr