What About Edwin Jackson?

with Edwin Jackson being our third our fourth guy.

…then Dice-K will be in line for a few starts. If the Sox can get 16-18 wins out this #4 slot, life is realllly good.
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I know, I know…its the scotch that makes me post dreamy visions….

The White Sox went with a 6-man rotation last year and when they trimmed to 5, Jackson was the one they traded away.

When the Cardinals won the WS with Jackson contributing after the trade last year, why aren’t they trying to keep him?

I don’t know if it’s a pitching thing or a clubhouse thing, but everything seems to suggest we should go for Oswalt or Floyd over Jackson.

Is he plugs the hole in our rotation. When Lackey comes back next year our rotation will be full, so unless we move Lackey to Wakefield’s role we can’t pick up that Hamels or Cain we all want.

If it’s more than Oswalt, I’d probably go for Oswalt. I said this earlier, what I’d ideally offer him is a 3 year deal which pays $8mill/$8mill/$4mill, and where he has an opt out after each year. I think there’s a decent chance that we’d get a decent pitcher for not too much money for 2 years, and even less AAV.

Maybe I underestimate the market for him.

Between Floyd, Oswalt and Jackson I worry more about Floyd and Jackson against the AL East but it’s a concern for Roy as well. I would suspect his numbers to go up once he starts facing AL East line-ups that have by and large improved since his time in TB.

Injury concern is there for Roy, prospect cost is there for Floyd. On a one year deal though, Jackson is a good innings eating option even though. That being said, his career numbers fit decently with the Red Sox 2011…Terrible Aprils, Decent/Good months in between and putrid numbers in September. That’s over his career though.

as long as it’s just a one year deal.

Oswalt has the highest upside and the best chance to put together an excellent season, but he’s also the oldest by a number of years and carries some injury concerns, not to mention he really seems like he doesn’t want to play anywhere but Texas or St. Louis (which is just a really horrible frame of mind for him, but that’s irrelevant to the current discussion).

Jackson has the stuff and body to be a top of the rotation workhorse but, as has been said to death, is maddeningly inconsistent. If he could be had at a similar price in terms of years and dollars to Oswalt, I would take Jackson. If he has a good-but-not-great year and throws 200 innings, something he’s done 3 years in a row, then he would be an excellent fit.

Floyd is definitely below the previous 2 pitchers. While he’d be the cheapest in salary, he would cost prospects and Kenny Williams has shown he’s pretty desperate to add impact prospects this season; he asked the Yankees for 2 of Dellin Betances, Jesus Montero, and Manny Banuelos for 1 year of John Danks. Insane. I would imagine Floyd would require an overpay and his ceiling is really just a number 4 workhorse. He definitely has value, but I doubt he would produce much, if any, return on investment for the cost of prospects. I would rather pay twice the salary and no prospects for Oswalt or Jackson.

If Jackson could be had on a one year deal, I’d say he’s the right choice and it’s not even particularly close.

But is not John Lackey. I guess I’m o.k. with that

is that, unlike Oswalt and Floyd, he HAS pitched in the AL East against 2 high power offenses (ours and our rival’s) when he was in Tampa. He has more upside than Oswalt and Floyd, but as said somewhere above, he will cost multiple years. I wonder if a 2 year deal with a relatively high vesting option for the third (300-350 innings?) would get the deal done

If both can be had for 1 year deals. Need those innings.

For some reason, Starting pitching seems to be pretty easy to trade away if you have too much.
Especially if it’s a short term contract
As long as we’re not talking John Lackey albatross money…

And then I saw Jim Bowden…

Can the Sox get him at under market value? If yes then I think with their lineup he is a nice fit. Not holding my breath on DiceK or Lackey. I see the upside here more than the risk.

… is it at all possible that we already have Roy signed, have made an offer on Jackson, and like the deal we have with Ross, none of it is “official” because we have to make a trade to free up the roster spots?

So, the rumor last night that we’re looking for a starting SS is the actual target to create the space on the 40 man, and we’re keeping these deals quiet, so that teams dealing with us for SS don’t realize we’re not looking to move those guys for starting pitching?

that you NEVER, EVER give a long-term contract to any starting pitcher. You try to find ’em in the farm (Lester, Buchholz), or you wait until there is a bargain bin, and pick up one year people for $5-12m. Then you use the rest of your giant payroll to stack the offense, with players who are less prone to implosion.

Absolutely prefer Edwin over Roy as Roy has too many health risk and Edwin has proven track record in the AL. As far as Floyd goes, only deal for him if we could dump Lars on the Pale Hose and not part with much more than say Bowden. Very concerned over what we are going to do at SS! Scuturo was never the answer. We had our guy twice I thought with Alex Gonzo, the best defensive SS in the league and he had power and hit in the clutch, but Theo let the guy go in favor of Rent a wreck and Lugo my god! And now we are waiting for a guy who plays defense like Alex to learn how to hit? Come to think of it, maybe we owe the Cubs compensation?

Do we really have that many folks coming by here that frequently or can you vote multiple times?

—Red Sox GM Ben Cherington on the club’s lack of pitching depth.

“I think we have more questions right now than Tampa and New York, for example. There’s probably less competition for the rotation on those two teams. The Yankees made some moves to strengthen their rotation. Tampa has had a strong rotation. Ultimately, the answer will be written on the field. There have been very recent examples of teams that looked like they were going to be struggling for depth at this point in the offseason and found some ways to put it together and did a good job buying low on some guys and they figured it out.”

Man, I know it is not April yet but words like that make me think it could be a long season