Columnists are looking to ride Edwin Jackson out of town on a rail. The worst starting pitcher in the majors this year could not get out of the first inning in his first start after rehab.
But Jackson is going no where. The Cubs still owe him the last two years of his $52 million deal. The Cubs have no more quality starting pitching prospects in the high minors. And despite laced Kool Aid dreams that the Cubs can contend in 2015, the team is not even close to .500 with the current 40 man roster. No, Jackson will be on the pitching staff for 2015 and 2016, if for nothing else, to burn through 150 innings of work to put less stress on the bullpen or younger arms.
Hawk Harrelson and Steve Steve have observed that there has been a dramatic fall in quality hitters. Quality hitters are harder to find. This means that even marginal pitchers should be better, in the short run. (And possibly by accident, the Cubs stumbled toward gold by drafting the "best" college hitter the last two drafts).
Jackson, 31, has a 14-35 record as a Cub starter, with a negative 3.6 WAR. When the negative WAR is this deep, it is hard to fathom that Jackson is four replacement players short of being a replacement player (AAA) or basically, he has shown the skill set of an 18 year old promoted to the majors from short season Rookie ball. By comparison, catcher John Baker's one inning blow-out relief stint garnered a 0.1 WAR. But one cannot really argue that Baker is 3.7 times better a pitcher than Jackson.
Unless the Cubs go with a six man rotation in 2015, Jackson will get the ball every 5th game. The Cubs have no other alternative but slide him down the rotation to the #4 or #5 starter and pray that he can get out the first inning. This shows the continuing problem with the team: lack of depth. No one is really going to push Jackson off the club in spring training.
