Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Dodgers show interest in Jackson and DeRosa

Just a couple of rumors to talk about today.

The first is an old Dodger friend, Edwin Jackson. If you recall, he was groomed to be the next pitching star a few years back. In his first major league start on September 10, 2003, he defeated Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks, 4-1. He gave up only a run in six innings, and the win was also on his 20th birthday. It sure looked like the future was bright.

Unfortunately, that was all she wrote as far as having good memories in LA. His ERAs the next two years? 7.30 and 6.68. Yikes. He was then shipped to Tampa, where he was mediocre for three seasons. However, he made the All-Star Game last season with the Tigers, and he looked like a new man.

Now, the Dodgers are interested in Jackson all over again. He'll only be 26 next season, and was 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 2009. The only red flag would be that his ERA started at 2.25 in April and crept up a bit each month. Still, he showed plenty of signs of being the dominant pitcher people envisioned him being.

There haven't been any offers on the table, but one possibility is George Sherrill. At the trade deadline, the Tigers were one of the teams in on him. It could make sense on both sides with the Tigers needing bullpen help and the Dodgers trying to build their rotation again.

The second is Mark DeRosa, who started last year with the Indians and ended up with the Cardinals. He's a super-versatile player, as he can realistically play any position on the field. His hitting has dipped the last few years, but he's still pretty good.

The Dodgers are one of eight teams who have interest in DeRosa, so it's important to note that that's as far as it's gone thus far.

Plenty of more rumors will come soon, I'm sure.

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