The Chicago Cubs have reportedly agreed to a 4 year, $52 million contract with free agent righthanded pitcher Edwin Jackson.
Jackson is a 29 year old who seemingly has been around forever. He debuted in 2003, making his first major league appearance on his 20th birthday, and got cups of coffee with the Dodgers in 2004 and 2005 as well. He was then sent to Tampa, along with one-time hot pitching prospect Chuck Tiffany, in exchange for Danys Baez and Lance Carter.
After three mediocre-at-best seasons with the Devil Rays, he was shipped to Detroit for Matt Joyce before the 2009 season, and then went to Arizona almost exactly a year later as part of the three-team deal that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees and Max Scherzer from the D-Backs to the Tigers.
After 21 starts with the D-Backs, Jackson was shipped to the White Sox the day before the 2010 trade deadline for David Holmberg and Daniel Hudson. Reportedly, the ChiSox didn't really want Jackson, but were acquiring him so they could trade him to the Nationals for Adam Dunn, or to some other team for some other player Chicago really wanted, but not such trade happened that season. Instead, Chicago sent him to Toronto at the trade deadline in 2011, with Toronto then sending Jackson to the Cardinals in the Colby Rasmus trade.
Jackson then signed a one year deal with the Nationals this past offseason, became a free agent again, and finally cashed in with a big payday.
In his six full seasons as a starter, Jackson has posted a 4.29 ERA and a 100 ERA+. He's durable, he eats innings, and he doesn't miss starts, but he's also not anything all that special.
The main reason that I'm doing a front page post about this -- other than the fact that things are dead right now -- is that the Rangers were rumored to be one of the finalists for Jackson. I'm not sure why they'd be all that interested in Jackson, who probably profiles as the #4 starter on a championship-caliber team, but hey, what else were they going to spend their money on, right? Cody Ross and Kyle Lohse?
Anyway, Jackson is now off the market.