Righty joins deep pitching staff The Nationals signed right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson to a one-year contract pending a physical, the team announced Thursday. Terms of the deal were unavailable.
The 28-year-old finished with a 3.79 ERA for the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. His presence adds depth to a Washington rotation already improved thanks to an earlier trade with the Oakland Athletics for left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez.
Jackson has pitched 1831Ú3 innings or more each of the last four seasons. That is a boon to a team that must make up for Stephen Strasburg’s expected short season. The staff ace will be limited to about 160 innings in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.
“We’re certainly going to have good competition in spring training. We’re going to bring the best 25 north with us,” Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said. “[Jackson] gives us depth and options not only in the rotation but in the bullpen.”
Jackson is a power arm whose average fastball velocity ranked third among all qualified big league starters last season. He was a 2009 American League All-Star with the Detroit Tigers, threw a no-hitter while with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010 and has pitched in the World Series with both the Rays and the Cardinals.
But Washington is also Jackson’s seventh team in a career that began when he was a 19-year-old with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003. Much like Gonzalez, he is prone to walking batters. Jackson dropped his total below 70 walks last season for the first time since he became a full-time starting pitcher in 2007. He ranked 43rd overall with 62 walks in 31 starts in 2011.
Jackson joins a starting rotation that now includes Strasburg, Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, Jackson, John Lannan and Chien-Ming Wang plus Ross Detwiler, who is out of minor league options. That alone is seven candidates for five spots.
“We’re certainly always open to make a [trade] that makes sense for us,” Rizzo said. “But we did not acquire Edwin Jackson to trade another starting pitcher.”
