Edwin Jackson stops wandering the Earth, is introduced as a Cub

Edwin Jackson has been traded six times and has pitched for seven teams in the past eight seasons. You’d be excused, then, for assuming that there’s something teams don’t like about that guy. But yesterday, when he was announced as the Cubs’ latest acquisition, there was no suggestion of that at all. Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com reports:

“We did all the digging we could do,” Hoyer said. “The reasons for him moving around certainly weren’t (because) he wasn’t a good teammate or didn’t work hard. It was kind of more contractual.”

As Jackson said with a smile: “Everyone likes me.”

For what it’s worth, I’ve never heard anything about Jackson being disliked or anything. In addition to the contractual stuff — which has mattered the past couple of seasons, as everyone has known he would not sign a long-term contract before reaching free agency — I think there is just something unique about him as a pitcher that has made him ultimately tradeable.

He’s a lottery ticket. Or a coin in a fountain. He’s got great stuff at times, and everyone can watch him pitch for a while and imagine him paying off huge. But at other times, when one is being rational, one can see his flaws and risks. In this regard he reminds me of Sid Fernandez. And to some extent Matt Clement. Guys who, at times, look unhittable and at other times, man do they get hit.

Anyway, because of his highs and lows, this back and forth happens with Jackson more than it does with other pitchers.  It leads to a greater-than-usual frequency of one team (his own) being tired of him and another team wanting a piece of that lottery ticket. That’s my theory anyway.

Maybe he pays off for the Cubs. Maybe he doesn’t. But it’ll be interesting to see how he’s handled now that he’s a long-term investment rather than a lottery ticket.