Idea: Trade Jackson for Joba

[Jordan4life_2007]

I think this entire statement is wrong.

 

#1 - a 4.15 ERA over a 3 year period is extremely good, especially doing it in the American League (for the majority of it). It's not Cy Young good, but if you are going to say something that is above average is league average, then I am going to have a problem with it every single time. Have some perspective here. Over the last 3 years, Edwin Jackson is tied (with, not so ironically enough, Bronson Arroyo and Joe Saunders) for the 46th best ERA at 4.15. You can't simply divide those guys up and say that he is a league average #2, but I would say that you can safely slot him as a pretty good all around #2-3 pitcher on pretty much any staff in the league. That is extremely valuable and, as I said, pretty damn good.

#2 - Bronson Arroyo is also a pretty good pitcher as well, but he would never survive in the American League. He survives by floating junk up there and pitching around good hitters, while Jackson goes right after hitters. I think if you just compare the stuff that both of them feature, you'd make the correct conclusion as well.

#3 - Jackson's ERAs the past 3 years have been 4.42, 3.62, and 4.47. He hasn't thrown fewer than 183.1 IP the previous 3 seasons. He hasn't walked more than 78 or fewer than 70, nor has he allowed more than 27 homers nor less than 21 homers. His strikeouts have shown the greatest inconsistency, but that is because they are trending upwards, which is a good inconsistency to show. Calling him the epitome of inconsistency is hyperbolic and, quite frankly, wrong.

#4 - I think Jackson has better stuff than Vazquez does, but perhaps part of that is because I believe he locates better as well as the fact that he has 2 extremely good pitches instead of 4 simply good pitches. It gives him less to mess around with, and thus, allows him to keep those two pitches extremely sharp. He has other pitches that work too, but they are not his main pitches, which is just fine. Also, considering Jackson has pitched on two postseason teams, and, upon arriving in Chicago last August, pitched his ass off, the stigma that Javy Vazquez carries is not nearly the same as the one that Edwin Jackson carries.

 

I think that covers about everything.

 

If you say so. And Arroyo was in the AL from 2003-2005 and posted similar numbers as Jackson has the last three years. Again, about league or slightly above league average. I never said Jackson was Todd Ritchie. But I'm not going to overrate him because he's a White Sox. Let the Cubs trade their top pitching prospect for this guy and everybody here would be singing a different tune. Period.

 

 

Again, have some perspective here. He is going into the season as the #5 starter, but you know as well as I do that he could have the best ERA on this team, especially if he continues to show what he did down the stretch last year. He could ultimately be a top 10-20 pitcher in the American League.

 

I used to think the same thing about Javy. I'll believe it when I see it. And even then it won't mean much if we lose him to FA because we can't work a deal out with his agent.