Gambo: From No-No to Go-Go
The Diamondbacks traded Edwin Jackson Friday to the Chicago White Sox for two pitching prospects: right-hander Daniel Hudson and left-hander David Holmberg. Both Hudson and Holmberg were rated among the top 10 prospects in the White Sox organization.
That Arizona traded Jackson is no surprise; that they got two solid prospects back for him and don’t have to pay any of his remaining salary is. Jackson was a major disappointment for the D-backs this year and is on the books for $8.3 million next season. He is nothing more than a dime a dozen pitcher. He is 6-10 with an ERA of 5.16. Not very good. There is a reason that Jackson is on his fifth team already in his brief major league career, and that is because nobody thinks enough of him to want to keep him. Jackson is easily replaceable, which Hudson will do for the remainder of the season.
Going forward the Diamondbacks rotation for the rest of this year and possibly next year will look like this: Joe Saunders, Ian Kennedy, Rodrigo Lopez, Daniel Hudson and Barry Enright. In the system they will have Tyler Skaggs, Jarrod Parker, David Holmberg and Patrick Corbin. Skaggs, Holmberg and Corbin are all left-handed. Clearly the D-backs are rebuilding, but they have added quality pitching and depth to their system while moving $21 plus million in salary in the last week. These are things you need to do when you are on pace for 100 losses.
When you factor in the loss of salary from Haren, Jackson, Eric Byrnes, Conor Jackson, Brandon Webb and Bob Howry and add in the increases of $21 million being doled out to players currently on the team for next year’s payroll, the D-backs will have roughly $54 million committed to the 2011 salary. Arizona expects to have a payroll of around $65 million next season, so barring any other moves they will have approximately $10 million to spend on a closer and some other pieces. Octavio Dotel could be an option at closer for next season with some of that money.
The D-backs also are actively trying to move Chad Qualls and Chris Snyder. Qualls has drawn some interest from Colorado and the New York Yankees, Snyder from Pittsburgh and Toronto. So, even with two big moves already in the books, the D-backs may not be done yet.
