Last season the Chicago White Sox wanted to upgrade their rotation, so they traded pitching prospect Daniel Hudson (and another player) to the Diamondbacks for Edwin Jackson. Even ignoring their respective contract situations – Hudson is under team control at low salaries for quite a while, while Jackson is making over $8 M and is a free agent after this season – the deal has been a push at worst for Arizona. That was ore or less solidified last night, as the two pitchers who were dealt for each other faced off.
Jackson was pretty good (6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 8 K), but Hudson went the distance and got the win (9 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K).
For their current teams (combining the end of 2010 with 2011):
Jackson: 3.90 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9
Hudson: 2.74 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9
So while Jackson has been good, Hudson has been better just a bit better (the latter gets to face pitchers, remember). The D’backs righty might, in fact, be establishing himself as one of the better young pitchers in the league. His 93 mph fastball has some good movement, and it nicely sets up his quality off-speed stuff – a change-up and hard slider, both of which have pretty hard for hitters to put a bat on. The good control is a nice sign for a 24 year-old, and should allow him to maintain an ERA in the 3’s even more balls start leaving the yard in one of the major’s more friendly home run parks.
The Diamondbacks are only a half-game out in the NL West – but imagine where’d they’d be if the Dan Haren trade had worked out nearly this well so far (Joe Saunders’ 4.50 ERA hasn’t quite made fans forget Haren and his 2.54, I’d think).
Also last night: Joe Mauer came off the DL for the Twins, getting a hit in his first at bat; Dustin Ackley made his major league debut, getting a hit in his first at bat (also Michael Pineda was really good); Graham Godfrey improbably outdueled Tim Lincecum; and much more.
What to watch tonight: Jon Lester goes for what would be his major league leading 10th win against fellow lefty Randy Wolf and the Brewers; two hard-throwing righties with ERAs higher than you’d expect – Brandon Morrow and Edison Volquez – face off in Cincinnati; King Felix and the Mariners have a chance to move into first place in the AL West if they beat the Phillies and Texas falls to Atlanta. Full schedule with probable pitchers here.
