He spent a few years in Germany and a few years in Louisiana before spending his time in Columbus, Georgia as a teenager. The last part happened quicker than expected - just ask the Cubs - but that’s not terribly unusual for a pitcher who debuts as 19.Įdwin Jackson was born in West Germany, because his father was in the US Army and stationed there at the time. He aged quicker than most pitchers do, but otherwise he went from a below average pitcher to a good pitcher, then to an average pitcher, and then to a replacement pitcher. If he simply played for like five teams and he had the same career, there would be nothing strange about him at all. The weirdest thing about Edwin Jackson is that, as strange as it is that his career has turned out the way that it has, his career has been anything but strange. He is currently signed to a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, his second stop there. He has signed as a free agent with eight different teams, two of which have signed him multiple times, and been released midseason four times. Although two of them were on the same day, so it’s unfair to count that as two trades. He was traded six times and all of them were before he reached his six years of service. Some of you probably know why his name naturally came to me. ![]() Edwin Jackson popped into my head immediately. And since Cabrera was a dependable, but below average shortstop at the end, neither of those trades were for anyone we know.īut it did get me intrigued about profiling a random player who was perhaps a bit more interesting who got traded a lot. He then signed a bunch of one year deals until he retired and in two of those years he got traded midseason. Cabrera became a free agent, signed a four year deal with the Angels, and was traded before year four. That trade is fascinating, mostly because there were four teams involved, but that’s pretty much where my interest with Cabrera dies. This was when the 4 team traded happened, which also involved Nomar Garciaparra and Doug Mientkiewicz. ![]() He was drafted by the Montreal Expos, was a reasonably well-regarded prospect, and stayed with his drafted team up until two months before free agency. Cabrera’s career sounds more interesting than it is unfortunately. I thought it would be interesting to just pick a random player and look at his career. I also noticed that he was part of a 4-team trade and was traded three other times. Anyway, that caused me to look at his career and I was surprised at how old he was at the time and also that he had such a long career. He was there for one year and he was not particularly good. I did not remember Cabrera playing on the Reds. Making him one of the best number 4 starting pitchers in the league.I was watching Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS between the Reds and Phillies on Youtube, and when Orlando Cabrera came to the plate to face Roy Halladay, I was confused. Jackson won the number 4 spot in the Rays starting pitching rotation out of spring training and through July 9th, had a record of 5-6 but a much improved ERA of 3.93. However, in 2008, Jackson's career has shown signs of turning around for the better. Jackson finished the season with a 5-15 record and an ERA of 5.76. His season highlight came in a start against the Texas Rangers on August 11th, in which he recorded a complete game shutout, allowing only four hits and one walk, striking out eight, throwing only 110 pitches and facing only 30 batters. Jackson managed to rebound somewhat after the all-star break, posting a 4-6 record and a 4.48 ERA over 15 games, all of them starts. His season began very poorly, going 1-9 with a 7.23 ERA in 17 games, 16 of them starts, over 74 2/3 innings pitched. ![]() In 2007, Jackson saw his first season as a dedicated starter. In 2006, Jackson saw more major league time then at any other point in his career pitching in 23 games, mostly in middle relief, Jackson posted a 5.45 ERA in 36 1/3 innings, including one start. On January 14, 2006, Jackson and left-handed pitcher Chuck Tiffany were traded to the Devil Rays for pitchers Danys Baez and Lance Carter. There was a time when Jackson was regarded as one of the premiere pitching prospects in baseball (after posting sub-4.00 ERAs in AA and the majors at age 19 in 2003), but poor showings in AAA and MLB after that season ended his status as a "can't-miss" prospect. He was originally drafted as an outfielder but was quickly converted into a pitcher by the Dodgers. Jackson was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2001 MLB entry draft out of Shaw High School in Columbus. The majority of Jackson's youth, however, was spent in Columbus, Georgia. Jackson is one of 27 major league players who was born in Germany. Jackson's father, a cook in the United States Army, was stationed in Germany at the time of his birth.
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