Part II

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=== Capt Jack Dept. ===

If you don't like Mikey Jay or Cool Papa or Mat Olkin :- ) that's cool.  I feel ya.

Ask Jack Zduriencik, then.  If you're going to be "ignoring anyone" who doesn't agree with you, that "Jackson isn't very good," I take it that a Jackson trade will leave us ignoring Zduriencik's own take on the pitcher?

How do you good buddies reconcile your beliefs that (1) Jackson isn't very good, (2) Jack Zduriencik is awesome, and (3) Zduriencik thinks Jackson is very good?

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=== Caveat Emptor Dept. ===

Now, I'm not saying Edwin Jackson is the bee's knees.   :shrug: he's a hotshot and 2009 was probably the season in which he figured it out.  That's all.

I'll draft him around #12-16 among AL pitchers next year.   There's a good chance that he'll provide a small profit.  There's a small chance that he'll burn me.

There's a great argument for rolling the dice on Morrow's own breakthrough, instead.  But that is no better than a 50-50 chance for 2010, and it won't be any better than 50-50 in 2011, and so on.

What do you want, [a 50-50 shot at TOR Brandon Morrow plus 1 arb year plus $5M in 2010] or [TOR Brandon Morrow]?  It's a fair question.

For me, this is a no-brainer.  I want the money in the bank.  Chess dweebs take the pawn and grind out the endgame.  They don't play for the speculative attack.  A lot of things can happen in 30 moves, but the pawn is real.

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=== Bora$ Dept. ===

What Dr. D did not know was that Scott Boras is representing Jackson.

Boras is the guy who invented the philosophy "You don't know what a high school player's value is until one hour before classes."  Jackson is precisely the kind of pitcher that Boras will want up for bid.

Unless Capt Jack and Boras have a 2-year addon extension figured out -- then Jackson is in exactly the same contract situation that Felix is.   We get Jackson for 1 year and then have to deal him.

Detroit probably isn't trading Jackson because they want to save his arb salary.   They're trading him for the same reason we would trade Felix if he told us, right now, he would never sign in Seattle under any circumstances.

This factor is colossal.  If the M's deal for Jackson, the deal will stand or fall with a prearrangement about an extension.

I don't want a blockbuster for Jackson without info about his 2012 and 2013.  This is a dealbreaker in SSI La-La Land.

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=== See You At the Ballpark ===

Look, amigos.  I'm not Edwin Jackson's biggest fan.  It's just that he happens to be a hot young SP who is available.  Young TOR's making $6M don't walk around every street corner.  Usually you can't trade for these guys.

Edwin Jackson throws harder than Felix.  He can pop 98 any time he feels like it.

He screams that slider in there at 87 mph -- the same as Randy Johnson threw his, in his prime.

Put down the XL sheet and watch a ballgame.  ;- )    This kid is a Cy Young talent.  And in 2009 he pitched like it, right up until September. 

You pay Jackson instead of Lackey, you get Jackson + Dunn* for about Lackey's salary.  And then you have the rest of the winter too.

Or not,

Dr D