The Giants announced Monday that they’ve signed free-agent righty Luke Jackson to a two-year contract that includes a club option for a third season. He’ll be guaranteed $11.5MM that’s paid out in the form of a $3MM salary in 2023, a $6.5MM salary in 2024 and then a $2MM buyout on a $7MM option for the third year. Jackson, a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council, didn’t pitch in 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April. The Giants didn’t provide a timeline, but given the date of his surgery, it’s likely Jackson will open the season on the injured list.
The 31-year-old Jackson had something of a roller-coaster tenure in the Atlanta bullpen, at times operating as the team’s closer and on other occasions being relegated to low-leverage roles while struggling through rocky results. He saved his best performance for last, however, dominating as the team’s primary setup man during their run to the World Series in 2021.
Jackson, who shook off a disastrous 6.84 ERA in the shortened 2020 season, pitched to an outstanding 1.98 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate for the Braves during the ’21 regular season. He was virtually unhittable in the season’s final couple months, recording a 1.35 ERA and 33-to-10 K/BB ratio with just one homer allowed over his final 26 2/3 frames that year.
For much of the postseason, the same was true. Jackson was unscored upon through his first six games in the playoffs — four NLDS games and two in the NLCS — before the Dodgers ambushed him for four runs in just one-third of an inning. The Braves lost that game (with Jackson taking the loss) but hung on to win the series. The World Series offered a chance at redemption for Jackson, and he seized it, firing 3 2/3 shutout innings with just one hit, no walks and four punchouts.
Looking at Jackson’s career from a broader perspective, the former No. 45 overall pick (Rangers, 2010) was a touted pitching prospect with Texas before being sent to the Braves in exchange for right-handers Tyrell Jenkins and Brady Feigl. Neither of those pitchers did anything for Texas, and while Jackson’s first season with the Braves in 2017 was rather nondescript, he began to turn a corner the following season.
It was 2018 when Jackson entirely shelved his changeup, scaled back the usage of his four-seamer and curveball, and began to throw his slider more than any other offering. Since that point, Jackson has seen his strikeout rate leap from an awful 13.4% to a very strong 27.1%. He’s averaged 95.5 mph on his heater along the way and also gone from a fly-ball pitcher to a robust ground-ball worker, keeping a whopping 55.8% of balls put into play against him on the ground. Command has been a frequent issue, evidenced by a 10% walk rate in his past 203 1/3 innings (2018-21), but Jackson’s ability to miss bats, induce double-plays and avoid home runs (0.93 HR/9) have helped him to offset that below-average ability to locate the ball.
Though he’s likely IL-bound to start the year, Jackson could still jump back into the big league bullpen before the season’s halfway point. Once he does, he’ll add some more swing-and-miss to what has become an increasingly sound relief corps in San Francisco. Lefty Taylor Rogers was signed for late-inning work alongside presumptive closer Camilo Doval, and the Giants will also have John Brebbia and Tyler Rogers (Taylor’s twin brother) in the mix for late-inning opportunities. The pitching staff has as many as seven capable starters — Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea, Anthony DeSclafani, Jakob Junis — and the potential for two of them (Junis and perhaps DeSclafani) to pitch in relief only further deepens the bullpen.
Jackson’s modest $3MM salary in 2023 will push the payroll to a projected $192.2MM, per Roster Resource, while the Giants are now up to more than $213MM in luxury-tax obligations. That leaves plenty of room for some additional signings, whether to further deepen the relief corps or to add another bat to the lineup.
Boo… Gonna miss Luke in ATL
2021 he was absolutely spectacular……rest of his tenure he was very mediocre.
Good for Luke. I like him and all but am I the only one surprised by the size of this contract? A righty relief pitcher who has had exactly 1 good season amongst several terrible seasons and is coming off a completely lost Tommy John injury season and hasn’t pitched in a game in over a year and they pay him $11.5 million? He’s a great guy and I’m happy for him but am I the only one who expected probably a 1-year “prove it” deal for a mill or 2? Maybe at the most a 2 year deal at $6 million max? They basically gave him twice that much money. He’s only had 1 good season and that happened a full blown out elbow ago. He was really bad before that season and now he has a reconstructed arm to deal with on top of that.
it looks like when you look @ ERA it is all over the place but his FIP has floated around the mid 3’s generally with a couple of outliers
I’m not a huge fan of FIP as an accurate stat. From what I understand it only benefits pitchers for strikeouts but also only punishes them for home runs and walks. It basically assumes that every ball put in play should be caught by the defense and if it falls it’s the defenses fault and not the pitcher. So a pitcher can go out there and give up extra base hit after extra base hit after extra base hit and his FIP will never go up because in theory the defense could have caught those balls. There was one season where Drew Smyly had an FIP of 2.01. Basically ace level Cy Young winner type of stuff. We all know Smyly was never THAT good of pitcher. Not even close. If a pitcher just limits his walks and limits his home runs he can get shelled every time he takes the mound and somehow end up with a great FIP or xFIP. There seem to be a lot of pitchers who rarely even come close to matching their FIP and Jackson has been notorious for that in the past. The major injury and time off makes the deal even more concerning to me. Speaking of FIP, does anyone know if inside the park home runs count against FIP? I’m pretty sure they don’t because the ball is technically in play. Triples, doubles and singles definitely don’t hurt a pitchers FIP. A pitcher can come in a game and give up a double, then a single, then an inside the park 3-run homer and somehow his FIP doesn’t go up at all.
I do think FIP is kind of an interesting concept because it’s an attempt to come up with a stat that doesn’t punish pitchers who pitch for teams with terrible defenses. I think it’s incredibly inaccurate though. Inaccurate to the point that it basically fails to accomplish what it’s trying to do. I think SIERA is usually the most accurate stat for a pitcher.
@Steve Nebraska – No, you are certainly not the only one.
I, too, was very surprised to see Luke Jackson was able to get this kind of deal.
Honestly, I thought the Braves were just going to resign him for close to the minimum ..
Good for him, I’m sure we will see countless Braves fans celebrating the fact he’s gone, considering most referred to him as “Puke” Jackson..lol
I always thought his shortcomings were a bit overblown, although he was pretty inconsistent. Heck, even when he was good most Braves fans refused to admit it, and then referred to him as “Fluke” Jackson..lol
He’s an excellent teammate, and a grade A human being, the Giants got themselves a good one even if they likely overpayed a bit. Even so, it is VERY realistic, if not probable, that it could end up being a bargain for the Giants by the time the deal runs out.
I was just surprised, due to his injuries, that he was able to secure a 2yr deal, with a option and buyout for a 3rd season.. GREAT for him and his family though, he certainly deserved it!!
I think the thing with Luke is, even when he’s good, it always *feels* like the wheels are about to fall off. I’m happy he got a good deal for himself, though. Despite his sometimes struggles in Atlanta, he contributed a lot.
Yes I agree. I was surprised at amount.
I guess they looked at him like Noah syndengarrd
Skywalker better than Correa.
I hope SF saw him pitch before putting ink to paper.
Not everyone comes back from TJ stronger than before. It’s not a huge commitment but there’s risk here.
Who are they gonna DFA now?
Their trade shortly before this signing opened a spot on the 40 man
Right!
That was a DFA of Wynn’s to make room for conforto
@mick
Guild was referencing the Marte-Miller swap with the Phillies earlier today.
Sounds like they’ll stash him on IL for a bit maybe.
Definitely the 60 day
I don’t know if it’s definitely the 60 day. Surgery last April and then Jackson tweeted something about him resuming throwing last October, so it seems like he’s already in his progression to return.
I’m not saying he’s going to be ready for opening day because 12 months is on the low end for a full TJ recovery, but if they think he can throw in like May they might not want to guarantee that he’s out for the full 60 days with that IL placement.
What’s the first date that a player can go on the 60-day IL? I believe it’s sometime during Spring Training but not clear exactly when.
They can move players to the 60 day at the beginning of Spring Training when pitchers and catchers report.
Oftentimes you’ll see deals in early February have a lag time on when they’re official until the team can move someone to the 60 day IL to open up a roster spot. A Giants example would be in 2021 when they signed Jake McGee, that deal was reported on February 9th but they waited until February 17th before making the move official so that Spring Training could start and they could move Brebbia to the 60 day IL to open up a 40 man spot.
The catch is that the 60 days runs from opening day, so even if you move someone onto the 60 day IL in mid-February, you still would need to wait until the end of May to activate them.
Thank you for this, CNichols!
Yes, thanks very much
SF still has money to burn. Taking a flyer like this is relatively low risk/high return for them.
A lot like the Brebbia signing. A gamble but these kind of deals usually work well for them.
Plenty to burn. Which they will… On their own off field endevours
Not bad for a deal – I love how the guarantee comes partially in a buyout, though it doesn’t seem to state whether this is a team option, player option, or a mutual option.
Fairly solid bullpen the Giants have now. I really like their moves – including bailing on Correa.
Luke Jackson sucks. Farhan giving another injured dude big money (11.5M total, 3M this year, 6.5M next year, and a 7M option or 2.M buyout in 2025?
This offseason sucks. Luke Jackson is the only non-Giants player I’ve booed for poor performance in my life when he sucked against the Dodgers in the NLCS.
He’s a mediocre bum and Farhan giving him 11.5M dollars. LOL us!
Once he solely used his 2 pitch mix (4 seam FB/Slider) he became much more effective….also probably what led him to TJS. So it will be really interesting to see what those pitches look like post surgery(velo, spin rate, etc).. I think its a great pick up for SF.
True. The slider is said to put extra strain on the elbow.
Thing is, the Giants only need that new elbow to stay intact for a year and a half. Pretty good gamble it will.
I get your angle, the gamble is whether he’ll throw that pitch as hard as he did pre surgery.
Hey sfgiantsguy—you probably said the same thing when Zaidi signed Gausman and Rodón but both re-established themselves here in SF. Every free agent comes with risks, this isn’t that big of a contract to get so upset about. I hope Luke kicks ass.
I just don’t get all these fans trashing their front offices all the time. I root for my team. I am stoked about the Giants signings this year.
Play ball!
Ditto !
Never could care less about how much my team overspends in order to keep my fandom.
I’m liking all the additions and non additions. Let’s see how it plays out instead of crystal ball doom prediction.
Thank you gfan!
#agnes gooch – established themselves, then what?
I loved both the Gausman and Rodon signings actually. Gausman had potential and Rodon was coming off a top 5 Cy Young campaign.
My burning memory of Luke Jackson is him trying desperately to hand the pennant to the Dodgers in the 2021 NLCS.
Now he’s recovering from TJ surgery.
Farhan loves to give guaranteed money to injured dudes hoping they’ll be good. Matt Boyd. Trevor Rosenthal. Let’s add Luke Jackson to the list! Love his 1.47 career WHIP!
First off, this is not big money and 11.5 million for 2 years isn’t bad at all. @sfgiantsguy is the only bum here. I’ve watched Jackson pitch for years and he has been stellar.
Years? So his 6.84 ERA in 2020 was stellar? He was DFA’d like 9 times as a Brave. He didn’t pitch at all in 2022.
Are you seriously counting the 2020 season? So many other players stats were fed up that season, you are basic your argument on less than 20 games in an oddball season. Jose Altuve was bad in 2020 as well so you might as well say he sucks, what about that scrub named Nolan arenado? He was hurt last year obviously, but he was a valuable reliever in the 2019 and 2021 seasons, the last two regular seasons he played in. So yeah, years smartass
@sfgiantsguy
The guy hasn’t even thrown a single pitch for the Giants, and you’re already calling him a “bum”. You’re a joke of a ‘fan’.
I’m happy for Luke. Great guy and a good pitcher.
Yep, so am I bham. Really glad he didn’t go over to the Dark Side (Mets or Phils) and will be out west so the Braves only have to see him 6 times a year.
Jackson to 60 day DL – opens a spot on 40 man for a Catcher?
There’s already 2 catchers on the 40 man
Sounds like he’ll show up to big league camp and then stay in Scottsdale to continue his rehab for a while after the rest of the team leaves.
Luke Jackson what can I say, all us Braves fans watched him go from Luke “the puke” Jackson in his earlier days with us; to Luke “the Duke” Jackson and help bring us a WS ring. I wish him all the best and health out in SF. SF fans y’all got a great guy and pitcher well done.
Well said
Enjoy the 500 bloop hits he will give up during this contract. He has the worst luck I have ever seen.
His FIP really shows that. One look at that and you can see why SF thinks they’re getting a much better pitcher than would meet the eye.
He had (hopefully still does) an absolutely filthy slider that generated all sorts of weak contact, but that weak contact led to some of the wonkiest hits I’ve ever seen. He gets legit rocked at times, but he always seemed like a great guy and a hard worker. Just so unlucky.
You never know what’s going to happen after that surgery. Didn’t pitch last year. Too much money I think.
I think you’re probably right
It’s only money and two years. Bullpen depth killed the Giants last year.
With an option for a 3rd year
Farhan finally signed the superstar he publicly promised
Luke! Looke! Luuuke! Who’s your daddy? Judging by results, most times, National League batters.