PITTSBURGH, Pa. / January 19, 2010Further cementing the claim that the Pirates will be a championship team, the club showed today that they have enough good pitchers to give up on a 3.14 ERA reliever by designating Steven Jackson for assignment.
While casual fans probably have no idea who he is, Jackson actually was a pretty solid option out of the 'pen last year going 2-3, 3.14 in 40 games. Despite the slew of relief pitching that the Pirates signed this offseason, this very blog speculated that he would make the team out of spring training, making the move a minor surprise in the universe of Pirates bloggers with two weeks of Pirate blogging experience.
Keeping in mind that this is a stat-focused management group, the release is probably due to Jackson's low strikeout totals and high walk totals, 4.4 strikeouts and 4.6 walks per nine innings. It's unlikely that a pitcher with those numbers would continue to be successful in the major leagues.
Thus, this Blog is fine with the move, as long as it doesn't result in a late inning role for Tyler Yates.
After a player is designated for assignment, the team has ten days to trade or release him. Those ten days pretty much kill the negotiating position in any trade, so the Pirates probably will hope to get a minor leaguer for him.
The Jackson move frees up space on the 40-man roster for Brandon Jones, an outfielder who they claimed on waivers this afternoon. I must admit I've never heard of Brandon Jones, but here are his stats. He'll be in the Indianapolis outfield this summer. He played most of his games in Atlanta in left field, indicating that he's not going to be a legit big leaguer unless he develops some power or changes his name to Nyjer Morgan.
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