Mariners, Blue Jays Swap Michael Saunders, J.A. Happ. Another Canadian here, and we lose an expensive #5/6 starter.
Michael Saunders is a decent player, 94 OPS+ lifetime but the past 3 years he has had a 108-106-128 OPS+. In just 78 games last year he had 2.4 bWAR so he could be a big pickup for LF. FanGraphs shows him as having a Steamer projection of 244/324/405 for a 2.4 WAR in 138 games in 2015. His defense isn't highly rated in CF or LF (-6.0 UZR/150 in CF, 1.2 in LF) but is good in RF (18.3 UZR/150) with over 750 innings at all 3 positions lifetime. Saunders is expected to make around $2.9 million in 2015 (arbitration year 2).
Happ has been a solid backup starter for the Jays but was just a 92 ERA+ guy for the Jays over the 3 years he was here (50 starts, 8 relief). Happ is signed for $6.7 million for 2015.
In other Jays news Justin Smoak was resigned for $1 million. Much cheaper than he would've cost in arbitration (estimated as about $3 million). So between the two moves the Jays saved just shy of $6 million while upgrading the outfield and losing their #5/6 starter.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20141203184414362