Feb. 7: Jackson will be guaranteed $1.5MM on the deal, MLBTR has learned. That’s paid out in the form of a $1.3MM salary and a $200K buyout on a $3MM club option for the 2025 season. The value of that club option and the buyout can be increased to $4MM and $350K, respectively, based on the number of games Jackson pitches.
Feb. 4: The Twins have signed veteran right-hander Jay Jackson to a big league contract, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray (X link). The deal will become official when Jackson passes a physical. Jackson is represented by agent Nello Gamberdino.
Jackson posted a 2.12 ERA over 29 2/3 innings for the Blue Jays last season. His 3.89 SIERA was less flattering due to a .187 BABIP and 89.3% strand rate, yet Jackson’s strikeout (23.3%) and walk (7.8%) rates were quite solid. This performance also came under trying circumstances for the 36-year-old, as Jackson spent much of the season traveling back and forth from Utah during breaks in the schedule to spend time with his fiancee and newborn son, who was born 15 weeks premature.
In joining the Twins, Jackson has now been a member of 10 different MLB organizations and two Nippon Professional Baseball organizations during his 16 pro seasons. In addition to his four seasons pitching in Japan, he has seen action at the Major League level with five of his clubs, starting with the Padres in 2015. Jackson has amassed only two years and 28 days of proper MLB service time given all of the stops and starts in his career, yet his contract with Toronto last winter included a clause that allowed him to test the market again without still being under arbitration control.
Despite his journeyman resume, Jackson’s actual results have been pretty respectable, with a 3.50 ERA and 29.5% K% over 87 1/3 career innings in the Show, albeit with an 11% walk rate. He brings some experience and perhaps under-the-radar upside to a Minnesota bullpen that has started to receive some attention over the last week, via the trade that sent Jorge Polanco to the Mariners.
Justin Topa looks to be a candidate for higher-leverage innings, while Anthony DeSclafani is a long relief option if he isn’t needed in the rotation. Jackson figures to work closer to the back end of the pen and might be something of a proverbial 25th or 26th man on the roster, even though his guaranteed contract gives him some advantage over other pitchers who might have minor league options.
He was quite productive in low leverage situations last season and was probably a little underutilised. Could be a solid pickup for the Twins.
I always like watching him. He always gets a lot of whiffs.
Stiff 🙂
Says the guy whose the best player on his coed softball team
Seems good, but before I’ll judge, I need to see the 40-man roster and see who the Twins are dropping for these last two free agent pickups.
Okay, so the players DFA’s were Balazovic, Daniel Duarte, and Bubba Thompson. Dayum, but Balazovic sure dropped.
And I was kind of hoping Twins could make use of Bubba’s speed.
Oh, well… we’ll see if any of them pass through waivers.
Give Jay a full season! Full name Randy Jackson. The social media content writes itself!
HELL YEAH BRUTHUR
Jay Jackson is also the name of the actor who played Perd Hapley in Parks and Rec, “the Perd I mentioned a second ago when I was telling you the name of” the character, so a very versatile name indeed!
I honestly don’t expect the twins to win a world series in the next 500 years. It can’t happen
Nonsense. I just won with the Twins in RBI Baseball for Nintendo. Absolutely destroyed the Cardinals with Puckett and Gaetti.
Now the runner in scoring position music will be in my head all night.
Just beat Detroit with SF. Mitchell hit a 3 run bomb off Morris in the 3rd 🙂
They just won in our OOTP league. have faith.
Glad he got a ML contract. Everything we saw from him here in Toronto says he is a very good person who gives it his all. Wanted the Jays to keep him but the pen is pretty full here.
Exactly. He’s nearing the end and deserves to make big league money for a while.
But… has anyone signed Ryan Brasier???
Yes, he has been signed.
You will find him with…….
Dairy Queen Brasier !!
My money is on him returning to the Dodgers on a one year deal.
Why are you so obsessed with Brasier?
Is Randy Dobnak ever going to make it back, or was his injury career ending?? I think it’s wild they started him in the playoffs and now he’s disappeared off the planet. Seemed like a good dude too.
I think Dobnak might be done at this point. He’s been really bad in the minor leagues for the past two seasons, and is entering his 30s now. He was extremely smart to sign the contract that he did a few years back, because even if his career is over, he was still able to bank a few million dollars.
Dobnak was never that good. He only got spot starts when someone went down to injury. He had a few good starts but he was always one inning away from a meltdown. Luckily the twins managers knew when to pull him and let the bullpen get out of his jams and preserve some wins. Very lucky, very avg to below avg pitcher.
That’s some fine revisionist history. Dobnak was very good in 2019 and he was excellent in the first several starts of 2020 (where he was a regular starter, not a spot starter). Things went off the rails for Dobnak later in 2020 and a combination of failed adjustments and pulley tendon pretty much put a fork in him in 2021.
When Dobnak was limiting his walks, he was solid enough, but I suppose that’s what a very average pitcher is. Solid. If you can get an average starting pitcher at Dobnak’s price, you’re doing well.
He’s cooked now though.
Eh, I don’t fully agree with this assessment. From his professional debut in 2017 through his major league debut in 2019, he was consistently running ERAs at 3.14 and below thanks to a huge groundball rate. 2020 was his first season ever where he seemed nothing better than average, and then it fell apart starting in 2021 thanks to a finger injury. He hasn’t been the same pitcher since.
As for the “constantly pulled before a meltdown,” that also came in the first of a few years where the Twins were obsessed with removing pitchers early to avoid the third time through penalty. However, Dobnak often got through the 5th inning in ~70 pitches. I don’t think the Twins would have given him that contract if they felt he was just a 5 and dive pitcher.
A Paladin!
Good to see Jackson finally get a real shot to stick in a bullpen for an entire year. He’s been low-key quite solid for the past couple of seasons, but kept getting shuttled back and forth to AAA. This could be a sneaky good pickup, and I’m rooting for him, especially considering the rough personal issues he went through last year.
We’ll see how he does in spring training .Would have rather seen a signing for a SP…
Jay Jackson is the Edwin Jackson of AAAA journeymen
Uh no.
Keep adding high upside arms! The offense is ready to rock, must concentrate on run prevention. Jackson is another weapon in this pursuit!
JJ a member of the 107 win SF Giants!
If we could just get one more legit starter then I’d be content with this off-season.
Lopez, Ryan and Ober are legit starters. The Twins front office seems confident that Paddock is among those three as well. DeSciafani and Varland will duke it out for the 5th starter to start the season. Before the year is through, David Festa and Matt Canterino could be challenging for a spot in the MLB rotation. You can never get too much starting pitching, but I am actually ok with the way the rotation is shaping up.
I’d guess the DFA’s are probably 2 of the following:
Cole Sands
Jordan Balazovic
Yunior Severino
Nick Gordon
Bubba Thompson
I expect Daniel Durante, just claimed off the waiver wire, will be the DFA victim to make room for Jay Jackson. I expect Nick Gordon to be the DFA victim to make room for Carlos Santana. If Nick can stay healthy, he is going to make some team a very pleasant waiver wire addition. I have long been a Gordon fan who was frustrated by Gordon’s injury bug.
Super happy for Jackson. He deserves a major league guarantee. Twins fans should be happy. You’ll like him.
I’m guessing these moves mean a DFA coming for new pickup Daniel Durante? And if they don’t come up with a trade or something and need to DFA someone else, I’d guess Gordon or some other waiver wire pickup reliever….
So we still don’t know details on the deal? Would be nice to know how much we’re spending on this guy to get a better idea on if we have any money left to add to the big league roster….
It was for $1.5M or so, a little more than what they had left from trading Polanco. And some of that money is the buyout for next year if they don’t pick up his $3M option.
Would still really like to see them pick up another starter or two…