Toronto general supervisor Ross Atkins states competitive baseball teams are progressively less ready to part with leading potential customers when they tool up for a playoff run.

So while heaven Jays didn’t get a blue-chip minor leaguer when they traded experienced left-hander J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees, Atkins was pleased to obtain a pair of significant league-ready players rather.

The Blue Jays continued their rebuilding procedure Thursday, sending out Happ to the Yankees for infielder Brandon Drury and minors outfielder Bill McKinney. The trade came hours after the Jays shipped reducer Seunghwan Oh to Colorado for minor league infielder Chad Spanberger, outfielder Forrest Wall and a player to be called or money.

Drury, who is anticipated to join heaven Jays when they start a three-game series with the White Sox in Chicago on Friday, produces a prospective snarl in the Jays infield, where Yangervis Solarte, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Aledmys Diaz and Devon Travis are currently defending playing time. But Atkins said positional depth is needed for any playoff-calibre group.

” This game will permanently have to do with depth,” Atkins said Thursday on a conference call. “You can never ever have enough of it.

” Having that as a challenge is where you want to be when you end up being a championship company,” he added. “We’ll have opportunities for people to play, there’s no doubt about that. If it implies that somebody goes to triple-A, that is a good scenario for an organization.”

Happ, who turns 36 in October, is 10-6 with a 4.18 ERA in 20 starts and was a first-time all-star, picking up the save for the American League at this year’s midsummer classic in Washington, D.C. He signs up with a rotation that consists of Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia and Sonny Gray.

Atkins called Happ a stable professional who assisted the development of more youthful pitchers on personnel, consisting of up-and-coming lefty Ryan Borucki.

“In the three years I’ve understood (Happ), he’s just become increasingly more driven and increasingly more focused, and it’s actually motivating to be around him,” Atkins stated.

Happ has a US$ 13 million salary in the last season of a $36 million, three-year agreement, and the Yankees are accountable for the remaining $4,543,011.

New York started the day 5 1/2 games behind Boston, the AL East leader. The Yankees were just 14-14 in their previous 28 games.

A 12-year big league veteran, Happ is 102-82 with a 3.95 ERA for Philadelphia (2007-10), Houston (2010-12), Toronto (2013-14, 2016-18), Seattle (2015) and Pittsburgh (2015 ).

With the acquisition of Drury and McKinney, Atkins stated heaven Jays would pivot to the uphill struggle of attempting to get young, controllable pitching.

“We’re at the point now where our position player skill is very, very strong, and it would be tough to really update,” he added.

Drury, who turns 26 next month, was gotten by the Yankees from Arizona in February and began the season as their beginning 3rd baseman. He went on the disabled list after the group’s 8th video game since of blurred vision and migraines, and he lost his job to novice Miguel Andujar.

Drury has played in just 10 games for New York because and has invested most of the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he is striking.294 with 5 homers and 30 RBIs in 55 video games. He has a $621,900 wage and has 2 years, 99 days of big league service, making it possible he could be qualified for salary arbitration for the first time next winter.

The 23-year-old was chosen by Oakland with the 24th overall choice in the 2013 amateur draft, was traded to the Chicago Cubs with Addison Russell and Dan Straily for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammell in July 2014, then dealt to the Yankees together with Gleyber Torres and Adam Warren for Aroldis Chapman in July 2016.

McKinney has played two games for the Yankees, filling out on March 30-31 because of injuries to other outfielders. He is striking.230 with 13 homers and 35 RBIs in 62 games this year for Class A Tampa, Double-A Trenton and Scranton.

Toronto likewise claimed right-handed pitcher Oliver Drake on waivers from the Los Angeles Angels, and stated Drake will report to the Major League lineup.