The Diamondbacks have acquired former first-round pick and top prospect Brett Jackson from the Cubs in exchange for minor league reliever Blake Cooper, the Cubs announced. The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro tweets that Jackson will be assigned to Triple-A Reno in the D’Backs organization. Piecoro adds that Jackson had been claimed off waivers prior to the trade’s completion.
Jackson, 26, rated as one of the game’s top 100 prospects from 2010-12, according to both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus (he topped out at No. 32 on BA’s list and No. 44 on BP’s list). When his stock was at its highest, BA likened him to Jim Edmonds, noting that he had that type of ceiling at the plate, if not that type of Gold Glove caliber defense in center field. However, Jackson’s swing-and-miss tendencies caused his stock to plummet, as a problem he looked to have eliminated at the Double-A level resurfaced in Triple-A and still has yet to be corrected. Jackson was batting just .210/.298/.348 with a 37.3 percent strikeout rate for Triple-A Iowa this season and will look to deliver on some of his once sky-high potential in a new organization.
Cooper, also 26, was a 12th-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2010 and reached Triple-A for the first time in 2014. Though he’s struggled to a 6.00 ERA in 24 innings there, Cooper was excellent at Double-A this year, posting a 1.85 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 34 frames. His command has faltered since moving up to the top minor league level, as he’s walked 17 hitters in his 24 innings at Reno. The 5’11”, 190-pound righty has never ranked among Arizona’s top 30 prospects, according to BA, and he didn’t rank on MLB.com’s midseason list of the D’Backs’ top 20 prospects either. In parts of five minor league seasons, Cooper has a 3.27 ERA with a 217-to-98 K/BB ratio (seven of those free passes were intentional) in 236 2/3 innings.
Because Jackson was waived by an NL team, the D’Backs had the second-highest priority of any club in placing a claim (by virtue of the second-worst record in the NL). Only the Rockies had a higher priority, and it’s not a surprise to see a team with as many outfield options as Colorado pass on a contact-challenged outfielder such as Jackson.
Oh no, we lost KJax…
Sox should’ve taken a chance on this kid.
They didn’t have the chance to. Arizona claimed him on waivers, and every team in the NL had waiver priority over AL clubs.
Didn’t see that, sorry.
So ends the BJAX era.
Good move by the Cubs clearing 40 man roster space. Gonna be a Rule 5 crunch this offseason.
There is our next slugger…
I mean, Peralta was nobody when he arribed to this team ._.
Yep, I remember the days when BJax was our next great hope. Looking back now I realize how sad those days were. Serves as a reminder on how you should view your teams prospects and overall farm system.
2012 Cubs: BJax in center, Vitters at 3rd, and Trey McNutt fronting the rotation.
Just… wow.
Another sad part is looking back on the Garza trade with Tampa.
I recall Tampa asking for one of Chris Archer or Trey McNutt. We all know what happened next… The talent evaluating genius of Jim Hendry…
The only reason the Cubs had Archer is because Hendry ripped off the Indians in the Derosa deal. Hendry also did very well in the Aramis Ramirez and Derek Lee trades.
Remember when everyone on here was complaining about the DeRosa deal? Everyone hated it.
If only the Cubs minor league system stressed fundamentals before Jed and Theo got here instead of just promoting based on talent alone…
Don’t forget Matt Szczur.
Insane how he was our top prospect not too long ago.
One Jackson gone, one to go.
Jay?
Tito.
Comparison to Jim Edmunds seems fair-
given that Edmunds is 44 now.
Brett Jackson- what might have been. Sigh.
hahahahaha. Love it
Kris Bryant headed to the show now?
Jorge Soler will be up before Bryant if I had to guess.
Josh Vitters: Your days are numbered….
One of those moves that will either make a GM look like a genius or no one will remember
I’ll vote no one will remember and it won’t matter a bit.
Left handed BJ Upton
(and I’m talking Braves version, not Tampa)
I actually love this move from a D-backs perspective. They have a lot of depth when it comes to long relievers, so might as well ship one off that really wasn’t even a huge prospect to begin with for a guy who once had a very high ceiling. Worst thing happens: BJax busts and Cooper becomes a reliable reliever, but it’s not like one reliever has ever made or broke a team (and if one ever did, it was because they were on the team…not because they weren’t)