This Day In Dodgers History: Edwin Jackson Traded To Devil Rays

On Jan. 14, 2006, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson and southpaw Chuck Tiffany to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for right-handed relievers Danys Baez and Lance Carter, and cash considerations or a player to be named later.

At the time, Jackson was a 22-year-old who was the Dodgers’ best prospect but the organization gave up on him after he struggled at the Major League Level.

Jackson made his MLB debut in 2003 as a 19-year-old and pitched 22 innings with mixed results. He posted a 2.45 ERA but he was only striking out 7.77 hitters per nine while walking 4.50 per nine.

The following two seasons, Jackson pitched less than 30 innings each year and posted ERAs of 7.30 and 6.28 while his strikeout numbers regressed and his walk numbers remained similar.

He finished his Dodgers career with a 5.50 ERA in 75.1 innings with 39 walks to only 48 strikeouts.

When the Dodgers made the trade, it was mostly centered around Baez, who was a closer who was coming off a 41 save season with a 2.86 ERA.

The other two players involved, Tiffany and Carter, were mostly throw-ins.

Tiffany was a minor league pitcher who pitched two seasons in the Tampa Bay organization but never made it above Double-A. Carter was a middle reliever who had limited success in his previous four seasons for the Devil Rays.

Carter only pitched 11.2 innings for L.A. and allowed 11 runs on 17 hits.

Baez pitched 49.2 innings for the Dodgers in 2006 and saved nine games but was removed from the role early after blowing four save attempts.

Six months after acquiring him, the Dodgers traded Baez, along with Willy Aybar, to the Atlanta Braves for Wilson Betemit. He ended his Dodgers career with a 4.35 ERA.

With the Devil Rays, Jackson’s struggles continued but in 2007 he took over as a full-time starting pitcher after only making 15 starts his previous four seasons.

From there, he spent the next seven seasons as an innings-eating starter who bounced around to many different teams and continued to pitch through the 2019 season.

Over his 17-year career, Jackson pitched for 14 different teams and threw 1,960 innings with a 4.78 ERA, 4.48 FIP, 6.92 strikeouts per nine, 3.58 walks per nine and 17.6 WAR.

Jackson set MLB record

In the final season of his career, Jackson was acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays, which was the 14th organization he played for.

This set an MLB record for most teams pitched for in a career, breaking the mark set by another for Dodgers pitcher, Octavio Dotel.

Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!