Blue Jays make another trade, get Michael Saunders from Seattle

Michael Saunders didn't seem long for Seattle, despite the Mariners' need for outfielders. General manager Jack Zduriencik seemed insistent on trading Saunders, who had proven himself productive but injury-prone.

The trade happened Wednesday, as Saunders was sent to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher J.A. Happ, an interesting trade between two teams who seem eager to climb the AL ranks in 2015.

The Blue Jays, you have to figure, are happy to take Saunders off the Mariners' hands, since both Colby Rasmus and Melky Cabrera are free agents. The Blue Jays still need starting pitching to complement their offense, but Happ isn't a huge loss. He had a 4.22 ERA last season, going 11-11.

Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos already scored this offseason by getting Josh Donaldson from the A's. Getting Saunders isn't as big of a coup, but it seems like the Blue Jays got the better of this deal too.

Saunders, 28, hit eight homers with a .791 OPS in 78 games for the Mariners in 2014. Despite injuries, his 2.4 Wins Above Replacement were third among Mariners offensive players, according to Baseball Reference. He's also Canadian, and we know how much Blue Jays fans appreciate that.

Happ, meanwhile, is a bit of a journeymen. He had a pretty good rookie season in 2009 with the Phillies, winning 12 games with a 2.93 ERA and two shutouts. But Happ, 31, hasn't been that great ever since, pitching for the Astros and Blue Jays.

On the surface, getting Happ doesn't make much sense for the Mariners, whose rotation is topped by Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, then filled in by a number of young pitchers including James Paxton and Taijuan Walker.

The trade could, however, be setting up the Mariners to move one of their young pitchers in a trade. They've been linked to Matt Kemp, Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton. The price for any of them, most insiders figure, includes one of Seattle's promising young starters.

The Mariners now have a more glaring need in the outfield and an extra starter on their roster. Perhaps moving Saunders was just phase one of Zduriencik's plan.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz