Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 10, 2008
Joyce for Jackson

Bless You Boys opines on the Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson trade:

What I'll tell myself as I sign off for the night, however, is that maybe this trade won't ultimately be judged by itself. Could this be the precursor to another move? Might Jackson be flipped in another deal? Did Dave Dombrowski do this, knowing he has something in the works for one of his other starting pitchers? Then this trade might make sense to me. Right now, however, it doesn't quite smell right.

Jackson showed a big improvement in his ERA in 2008, but it was mostly due to giving up many fewer hits. That was probably attributable to Tampa Bay's improved defense, especially with Jackson's strikeout rate going down. I don't see this improving the Tigers staff.

Meanwhile, the Rays pick up another good, young player.


Posted by David Pinto at 11:27 PM | Trades | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Jackson's improvement was maturity, command and control which was why he gave up fewer hits. If he continues to improve he will be big improvement for the Tigres and if he just stays the same he's still better than at least half their rotation. He won 10 games in the second half. I still don't like their team and don't like this move as apparently they are trading Joyce so Carlos Guillen can play LF. You can only play so many guys out of position at once and they need to get younger in the field. I also don't know if the the Rays should have traded away a guy who was very solid up until Sept for a guy who looks to be a platoon in RF. If both these guys play up to their potential it will be good for both teams but I'm not sure this was the right move for either team.

Posted by: Bandit at December 11, 2008 07:49 AM

Edwin Jackson, as much as I love him did not improve his command this season. His K rate went down and his walk rate went up. His "improvement" came as a result of improved defense and luck. His command hasn't improved at all.

He's one of the hardest throwing starters in the big leagues (averaging 94), but it's straight, really straight. And big leaguers can catch up to it. Heck, pitchers who've only hit for 3 months can apparently catch up too it. His slider is good, but inconsistent and his change-up isn't used much (although again has potential).

Posted by: Tyler at December 11, 2008 08:14 AM

'08 77BB/183.1 IP
'07 88BB/161 IP

First time he had less than 1BB 2IP - K/BB was the same

Posted by: Bandit at December 11, 2008 09:25 AM

It was definitely the defense that caused the improvement. His BABIP dropped .050 (!!) even though he gave gave up more LD and FB.

Yeah, his control improved, but he won't have the MLB's best team defense behind him. More like the 26-27th best. I wouldn't expect the same results going into next year.

Posted by: thumble at December 11, 2008 01:15 PM

Sorry but you know nothing about pitching. Pitching starts with getting the ball over the plate. This is true from LL thru the majors. The cause is better control and command - the effect is fewer hard hit balls because he's not behind in the count.

Posted by: Bandit at December 12, 2008 06:31 AM

I know enough to check my facts before I toss out an opinion.

His ability to get pitches over the plate improved, I agreed with that statement. However, his ground ball rate went down while his line drive and fly ball rate went up. Those are NOT the peripheral changes associated with "fewer hard hit balls." I think we can all agree a LD is a harder hit ball than a GB.

Successful pitching starts with getting the batter to THINK he knows where the ball is, over the plate or not.

Posted by: thumble at December 12, 2008 09:47 AM
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