The Royals Should Sign Edwin Jackson

Difference in walks can perhaps be dealt with by looking at quite a disparity between the two with regard to K-rates.

Career numbers:

K/9 — Jackson 6.7, Sanchez 9.4
WHIP — Jackson 1.48, Sanchez 1.39
ERA+ — Jackson 97, Sanchez 97

Jackson has pitched 200 innings 3 times in 9 seasons. I wouldn’t say he’s “consistently thrown around 200 innings.”

Help me out on fWAR and the significance thereof.

But…you could die.

Of a boner.

But I think EJax makes more sense because I’m looking more at 2013-2014 than 2012 as the important year.

I don’t necessarily think that his age should be all that concerning at all for the Royals. I think it could possibly be a benefactor based on the whether he has a good year or not, we can turn him loose. The innings pitched and moving to the AL and back issues are much more concerning for the Royals. We kind of have a history of signing risks and them blowing up save crazy eyes and the melk man.

They should legalize it.

Lived in KC since 2004 – didn’t have an A.L. team and my (then girlfriend) wife lived here already, so I root for the Royals as well – at least 156 games a year.

Cracked me up.

in the last 7 years than St. Louisans.

But it never happens for a long-term contract. It almost never happens for even a 2-year contract. Not sure why teams never do this, but they don’t. For some teams in some circumstances, it would really make sense.

Signing Jackson still leaves the team without the a true “front of the rotation starter,” and my only real concern is that if/when that pitcher becomes available the Royals might not be able to afford him because they are paying Jackson.

If the Royals can afford Jackson and a “Greinke” then fantastic… I think this is part of the reason he is still a free agent.

He’s risky, but most players the Royals can afford have some issue or other.

I’m not saying Jackson is particularly risky. I’m saying long-term deals for pitchers are inherently risky. Pitchers not infrequently implode, or blow out an elbow or shoulder. So buying that kind of risk makes sense when you’re a contender or right on the verge of contention. Doing it when you aren’t makes no sense. You’re giving away at least one year in that contract when the team isn’t contending. And we don’t know for sure that the Royals will be ready to contend in 2013. But we’ll know a lot more after the 2012 season. And then there will be a better SP market.

Can the Royals afford a player like Greinke next year? If not, then why not sign him?

If Jackson is signed, then the decision is easy: Duffy and Crow in rotation at AAA (or Crow in pen).

i don’t mind the offer though. duffy has potential but who knows. dwyer and lough are meh. cuthbert a premium lottery ticket. don’t really see how garza fits, but i don’t mind that package for someone that makes sense.

This group will thin out before the ’12 season ends, of course. But imagine a free agent class with Cain, Danks, Greinke, Hamels, Weaver, Liriano, Jeremy Guthrie, Shaun Marcum, Anibal Sanchez, Jonathan Sanchez, Ervin Santana, Jake Peavy, and plenty of solid innings eaters. There is something to be said for a team sitting out the upcoming offseason and trying to snag pitching in the following one.

Committing $60M to EJax seems more risky when looking at those names and knowing that the Royals will be unable to go after any of those. In that market with so many headliners, is EJax still worth 5/$60M?

Their full list is here, about 2/3 of the way down:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013-mlb-free-agents/

and 3 more years after that.

LaToya

Best to know their BABIP and BB%(BB/9) instead.

wow, really?

I suppose it just has to be written in their contract? I mean haven’t there been players who, if they reach X number of homers, make the all-start team, etc…..

it’s actually kind of cruel too, because those things really don’t happen very often, as far as I can tell.

But, along with innings pitched, it’s really all that matters. You win and lose games based on how many runs you score and how many runs you give up. Not how much WAR your roster accumulated.

ERA isn’t necessarily an indicator of future success. We all know that. There are luck factors that play into determining your ERA. But it’s still the stat that matters because it shows how many runs you are giving up per 9 innings.

With that said, the more I look into Jackson, I think he might be a good fit. I agree this team doesn’t need stars in the rotation. We need pitchers that can consistently go out there and give us 6-7 quality innings regularly. Jackson might be one of those guys.

Looking over his 2011 game logs, outside of a rough 4 game stretch to finish out April, he was pretty consistent. Not dominating but, with a good lineup, those outings would keep his team in games.

The question is, does he project to finish with an ERA close to what he had last year? He gave up quite a few baserunners and only had an average strikeout rate. How much can we get him for? If you’re paying upwards of $10 million, there’s no way I’d do that. Maybe $7 million, but it says his salary was $8.75 million.

The only problem I have with signing a pitcher such as Edwin Jackson is I still don’t think we’re contending this year. Why not trot our young pitchers out there this year (i.e. Crow, Duffy, and possibly Montgomery) and see what we’ve got? When the team is ready to contend in 2013, there will be plenty of Edwin Jackson’s out there to pickup if we’re still in need of starting pitching. Why not just bank that money for next year when it’s more realistic to contend? I would start the season with Hochevar, Duffy, Crow, Paulino, and Sanchez as the starters. Move Chen to the bullpen (come on, there’s no way dude is keeping up this pace as a starter. His luck will run out). Let’s see if there’s any hope with that rotation. If not, we can either make a trade for starting pitching in July (if we’re somehow in contention) or wait until next year to improve the staff.

I just don’t think this is the year we should be trying to improve the ballclub unless it’s a big impact player (which isn’t going to happen). I don’t think we’re role players away from contention. We are counting on developing players such as Hosmer, Moustakas, Escobar, and Perez at this point. Once that happens, then Dayton should be aggressive in the free-agent market. Until then, I just think it’s a waste of money.

We don’t know that. More importantly we don’t know that his shoulder wouldn’t have given out anyway. He did have a major shoulder injury and operation on his resume which lost him an entire professional season. He was risky for 5 years, probably moreso than most pitchers.

vindication