This article is courtesy of our friends at Ranting About Cleveland
Written by: Dan
This Thursday, two of the top remaining free agents found homes of the 2012 baseball
season. Edwin Jackson signed with the Nationals, and shortly after, Casey Kotchman
signed with the Indians. Jackson helps fill out a thinned Nationals’ rotation, with minimal risk
for the club.
Jackson’s 2011 season was better than the overall numbers look. His ERA wasn’t great,
and his WHIP looks ugly due to a .330 BABIP. Jackson hasn’t lived up to the hype he had
when he made his Major League debut on his 20th birthday, but he still has a mid-ninties
fastball, and has controlled his walks in the past three years. He doesn’t have the strikeout
rate you’d expect for a guy with his stuff, but he generates enough ground balls to make up
for it.
Earlier this offseason, I wrote about the bright future in Washington. I like the future for the
Nationals, but didn’t think that their window for contention would open until the 2013 season.
By then, they should have Bryce Harper established at the Major League level, be getting a
full season from Jordan Zimmermann, and be getting at least something close to a full
season from Stephen Strasburg. Adding Gio Gonzalez may have accelerated their window,
and if they would have landed Prince Fielder, I could have been onboard with them making
some noise in the National League East 2012. But without Prince, I’m not sure this team can
contend. The incentive of the extra wild card team (which hasn’t been officially announced
yet) may have persuaded them to setup for a run this season, but a lot of their core players
are still young, and I think that they will really blossom in 2013.
Following this logic, I was surprised to hear that Edwin Jackson’s deal was of the one year
variety. While there’s no such thing as a bad one year contract, solidifying their rotation with
Jackson could have been a sneaky move this offseason, which could have paid off in the
future. I also think that there’s a good chance that Edwin Jackson could find himself in a
similar situation next offseason. The market has the potential to be flooded with big name
starting pitchers. With Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke, Anibal Sanchez, Colby
Lewis, Francisco Liriano, and Shaun Marcum among those who will be true free agents
while players like Dan Haren, Gavin Floyd, Tim Hudson, and Ervin Santana could be free
agents deepening on the options in their contract, next offseason should dwarf this
offseason, whose biggest attractions were C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle.
I like the signing for the club, but losing Brad Peacock, Tom Milone, and A.J. Cole in the Gio
deal, I think signing Jackson to a multiyear deal should have been the deal. Unless the team
things that they can bring him back on a more team friendly deal with the glut of starters on
the market next offseason, or have their eye on a bigger name who could be available next
offseason.
In the fallout of the Edwin Jackson deal, it was reported that the Nationals are now shopping
John Lannan. Lannan probably won’t attract much attention on the market though. His
strikeout and walk rates aren’t very impressive, and his WHIP has ben ugly in both of the
past two seasons. I think that the best course of action for the Nationals would be to hold
onto him as depth. He’s currently slated to be in their rotation, with Ross Detwiler and Chien-
Ming Wang as his primary competition. Wang didn’t pitch in 2010, and threw less than 100
innings last season in the minors and majors combined. He’s no sure thing, and trading
Lannan would leave them with less rotation insurance than I’d be comfortable with.
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