The Edwin Jackson era is over for the Chicago Cubs, to the delight of the fans. Theo Epstein’s biggest Cubs flop was designated for assignment on July 19th. This allowed the activation of RHP Rafael Soriano, who was signed by the Cubs organization earlier this year.
Jackson’s Cubs career was nothing short of a disaster. He was signed to a 4-year, $52-million deal in 2013 after the Cubs were not able to acquire Detroit Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez.
Cub Nation hoped for an efficient starting pitcher who could eat innings and be around .500…that did not happen.
Jackson went 16-34, with a 5.37 ERA and a WAR of -3.4 in his two and a half seasons with the Cubs. He started 58 of his 82 games with the Cubs; Jackson was moved to the bullpen late last year when his ERA was a gut-wrenching 6.33, and he stayed in the pen until he was DFA’ed.
Woof.
The worst part of this mess was the fact that he was singed to such a large contract. Jackson previously bounced around with seven other teams including: Los Angeles (Dodgers), Tampa Bay, Detroit, Arizona, Chicago (White Sox), St. Louis and Washington. He was consistently an even .500 pitcher with an ERA in the high 3.00 to low to middle 4.00 range. Jackson had one all star season in 2009 with the Tigers.
He never was this bad of a pitcher, but he was never worth more than a two-year deal either. The Cubs striking out on Sanchez forced them to make a generous deal to get Jackson to assist the rotation, which at the time was grade-A terrible.
According to Chicago Tribune’s Steve Rosenbloom, the Cubs will eat the rest of Jackson’s remaining $15.6 million next season.
Despite the awful play and the salary that is being eaten, Jackson was according to many a great teammate and a great guy. When talking to the press, he never made excuses or played the “blame-game”, he took full responsibility for his performance and had the right attitude throughout.
I wish Edwin Jackson the best in the future, and am pretty confident someone will pick him up and that though his Cubs career is over, his playing career is not.
Alex Patt
@chifanpatt1
