Miami Marlins Pursuing Edwin Jackson

“Bah bah, this is the sound of settling.”

Seeing as how this song has been stuck in my head since first reading the news that the Miami Marlins were nearing a deal with veteran RHP Edwin Jackson, it might as well be stuck in your heads as well.  For if you were ever wondering when the time would come that Death Cab for Cutie would concisely and harmoniously sum up the Marlins offseason, wait no longer. Signing the 13-year veteran can be at best described as a low-risk, mediocre-return move, and would patently fail to assuage concerns about the quiet offseason the club has had thus far.

Jackson sports a career ERA of 4.58, and last enjoyed an effective season in 2012; his lowest ERA in a season in which he had more than 100 IP was 3.62, back in 2009.  That campaign was strong enough to earn him his lone All-Star nod, and he did pick up some World Series experience with the Cardinals in 2011.  While he does boast 28 innings of postseason experience, it might be best if the kids in the clubhouse don’t jot down too many notes, as his October ERA is a mere 5.46.  A journeyman’s journeryman, Jackson has played for nine teams in his career.

There is some hope if being signed strictly as a reliever, as he went 4-3 with a 3.07 ERA across 55 innings of work last season during stints with the Cubs and the Braves.  But the track record as a SP makes Tom Koehler look like Jose Fernandez in comparison, and it would be very hard to believe that the club’s bevy of young, average arms couldn’t post better numbers than Jackson in the starting rotation.  Doug Fister may well be the crown jewel of the best of the rest crop of free agents, as colleague Mark Laming discusses here.   Or maybe there’s still a trade in the works for a young, high ceiling arm now that the bulk of desirable free agent starters have been signed.  The David Prices might have come and gone.  But the “better than Edwin Jacksons“?  There are still plenty to be had if the club is willing to do what is necessary to acquire them.

And if not, Death Cab for Cutie might as well just play us out for the 2016 season in April.