On this day in Blue Jays history: Jays trade J.A. Happ to Yankees for Billy McKinney and Brandon Drury

Benoit pitched in 2017, splitting his time between the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates. After a stint in Triple-A in 2018, Benoit retired, finishing with a 3.83 ERA and 3.99 FIP in 1,068.2 innings pitched for his career.

Fast forward two seasons, and the Blue Jays were sellers ahead of the 2018 trade deadline. Eight years after trading him for his first stint with the team, the Blue Jays traded J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees. In return, they received Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney.

Happ pitched parts of four more seasons in the big leagues, including a solid 2020 season where he finished with a 3.47 ERA and 4.57 FIP in 49.1 innings pitched with the Yankees. After the 2021 season, Happ called it a career, with a large chunk of his career being spent with the Blue Jays.

In 2019, Drury slashed .218/.262/.380 with 15 home runs in 447 plate appearances for a 66 wRC+. After the 2020 season, he departed the organization. In 2022, he seemed to figure it out in the big leagues, slashing .263/.320/.492 with 28 home runs in 568 plate appearances, split between the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres. 

That led to a big contract with the Los Angeles Angels, where Drury slashed .262/.306/.497 with 26 home runs in 523 plate appearances in 523 plate appearances. He struggled in 2024 and has played solely in the minor leagues this season.

McKinney hasn’t found success in the big leagues like Drury has, but he’s played in the big leagues for eight consecutive seasons for eight different teams, including two separate stints with the Yankees. McKinney played with the Texas Rangers this season, but was designated for assignment and later re-signed to a minor-league deal.

The last notable trade came in 2024, when the Blue Jays traded Yimi García to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Jonatan Clase and Jacob Sharp. García pitched just nine innings with the Mariners in 2024 before missing the rest of the season with an elbow injury.

In the off-season, García re-signed with the Blue Jays, where he has a 3.86 ERA and 3.81 FIP in 21 innings pitched, but is once again on the Injured List due to an elbow injury. He was teammates with Jonatan Clase when the outfielder was with the Jays earlier this season, as Clase is slashing .210/.288/.300 with two home runs in 112 plate appearances in the big leagues. He has better numbers with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

As for Sharp, the catcher has spent the season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he’s slashing .154/.262/.195 with one home run in 142 plate appearances for a 47 wRC+. We’ll see if the 23-year-old can develop into something in the coming years.