The Snakes and Edwin Jackson agreed to a two-year deal worth $13.35 million, taking him through his last season with arbitration eligibility, so he’s a Banky-Bank-bound (West Campus) ballplayer through 2011. This isn’t really a surprise as far as the commitment pre-free agency, but it makes for an interesting gamble insofar as he remains a watchword for variable performance. Whether the D’backs get value during those two seasons remains to be seen, since that risk was fundamental to their decision to trade off Max Scherzer on the thought that Jackson was better suited to give them a front-end rotation starter to win now with.
As a Tigers' fan I was very pleased when Dombrowski acquired Edwin Jackson last year. I had followed him in Tampa and thought he'd be a good fit for the Tigers. He was pretty dominant for 3-months before his slider deserted him and he faded down the stretch. With that said, I loved the trade to get Scherzer and Schlereth from the D-Backs. It saves the Tigers a lot of money moving forward and might just yield a better pitcher in Scherzer.
I think Jackson will do well in Arizona and I wish him the best!
Edwin faded in the second half after a great start for the second season in a row last summer. He was missing a bit more with the slider, often trying to get hitters to chase it outside the zone, and they weren't fooled. He needs to mix it up better and has to command that fastball to work the slider off the plate. He was missing low most of the time. It's like all of a sudden, everyone was on to him.
I like Edwin. I don't have illusions of Scherzer winning 13 games in 2010, but I think the Tigs will get the better end of the Arizona end of that deal before it's over. Boras is taking Edwin to market in two years, and Scherzer will still be wearing the D.
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Borderline at best, needs to get the walks down.