Jackson pitching for revival
Journeyman eager to help young Marlins
JUPITER — Edwin Jackson speaks of his career with a knowing smile of one who has seen everything.
Entering his 14th season with his 10th major league team, the Miami Marlins’ right-hander has run the gamut of the baseball experience.
“If it’s just one thing they can learn from me it’s definitely how to deal with adversity,” Jackson says of his new less-traveled teammates.
“I’ve been in the highs of my career, I’ve been in the lows of my career. But I’ve been the same person through both of them.”
The Marlins got Jackson off a recent low, cut loose by the Chicago Cubs amid a four-year, $50 million contract that runs through this season. With Chicago on the hook for most of the remaining $13 million, it was a lowrisk move Miami hopes will pay off if the veteran can revive is career away from bandbox Wrigley Field in pitcher-friendly Marlins Park.
Jackson is among a halfdozen pitchers vying for two openings in the starting rotation, but could end up in the bullpen.
“Improving our depth was a goal, and to be able to add Wie[-Yin Chen] and Edwin Jackson were big additions,” said Michael Hill, Marlins president of baseball operations. “It will be a fierce competition, and guys may have to go back to Triple-A.”
With Jackson, the next career arc is always difficult to foresee. This was a sixthround draft choice (2001) of the Los Angeles Dodgers who advanced quickly, debuting in 2003 on his 20th birthday with a victory against Hall-of-Fame bound Randy Johnson, then with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Jackson was an All-Star with Detroit in 2009, pitched the second no-hitter in Dbacks history against Tampa Bay in 2010 and earned a World Series ring with St. Louis in 2011, when he was 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA.
But the first two seasons after landing the big contract saw Jackson go 14-33, and by the time he was released last July he was an afterthought in the bullpen.
“Just consistency, it’s all the issue. It’s never been really about stuff,” Jackson said as the Marlins began spring training. “It’s been going out and being consistent on a daily basis, that’s pretty much where I’m at now. I’ve had years where I had it and I’ve had years where it’s up and down.”
Even last year, after the Cubs cut him, he finished the season with the Atlanta Braves and turned in solid numbers as a reliever: 2-2, 2.92 ERA and a .932 WHIP in 24 2⁄ innings.
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Jackson, who has started 262 games among 340 total appearances in the majors, will begin in that role during spring training, according to manager Don Mattingly.
“He will get an opportunity to do that,” Mattingly said. “Then, knowing that there is that versatility there [to relieve]. You need that over the course of the season — guys who can go out of the ’ pen and start if they have to.”
Even if he doesn’t crack the rotation, Jackson can be an asset as an experienced hand in the bullpen as well as a valuable resource for younger pitchers on the staff.
Jackson has carried a reputation as a good teammate wherever he’s been. As disappointing as his tenure was in Chicago, there was sadness in the clubhouse when the Cubs let him go.
Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta referred to Jackson as “one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around.”
From his first day in still another clubhouse at the Roger Dean Stadium complex, Jackson appeared at home among new teammates, not an outsider at all. But he is not here merely to expand his circle of friends in the big leagues.
“I would like to be a starter. I feel I still have what it takes to be a starter,” he said. “I feel like I’m one of the older guys on the team, but I definitely feel like still have a lot of energy in the tank and a lot of positives that I can bring to this organization and to this team.”