The Boston Red Sox appear to have a gaping hole at the back end of their rotation, yet the team hasn’t yet added anyone established who can eat innings behind Josh Beckett, Jon Lester andClay Buchholz. Boston was very interested in free-agent right-handerEdwin Jackson to slot in at No. 4 in the rotation, but apparently not interested enough as Jackson has signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals.
Jackson was hoping for a long-term lucrative deal, but it appeared that most teams were only offering a year (as Boston was). The 28-year-old has No. 1 stuff but has pitched for six different teams since 2003, most recently the champion St. Louis Cardinals in the second half of last season. Last year, with the White Sox and Cardinals, Jackson had a 3.79 ERA over 199 2/3 innings, striking out 148 batters and walking 62.
The Nats now appear to have a very strong rotation with Stephen Strasburg, recent trade acquisition Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, Jackson and Chien-Ming Wang. Look for Washington to trade one of its excess starters like John Lannan. The Nationals, 28/1 on Bovada’s MLB futures odds to win the World Series, look like a potential wild-card team suddenly if they can hit a little.
Boston, meanwhile, might now have to overpay for Roy Oswalt, who is also being courted by the Cardinals and Texas Rangers. Behind the Big 3, the Red Sox have a handful of candidates. Daisuke Matsuzaka had Tommy John surgery last June and probably won’t be back until after the All-Star Break, although he did throw his first bullpen session this week. That leaves Daniel Bard andAlfredo Aceves trying to make the transition from relievers to starters, reclamation projects Vicente Padilla, Aaron Cook and Carlos Silva and holdovers Felix Doubront and Andrew Miller.
That staff doesn’t exactly matchup with the stellar Tampa Bay Rays rotation or the newly fortified starting five of the Yankees, who added Hiroki Kuroda and Michael Pineda. Boston is 11/1 on Bovada’s MLB futures odds to win the 2012 World Series.
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