Jackson coming back would be an A's plus

BALTIMORE -- Athletics manager Bob Melvin couldn’t confirm Thursday morning that Edwin Jackson was coming back to the organization.

That hardly tempered his club’s enthusiasm.

“It kind of got around last night amongst the group, and they were pretty excited,” Melvin said of the multiple reports that the 35-year-old right-hander is nearing a Minor League contract to return to the A’s.

“Performance is one thing, and you look at the performance and the record of the team when he was here,” Melvin continued. “But man, what he meant on the off-days when he wasn’t pitching. He’s the biggest cheerleader. He had a great record taking up the lineup card. Just all those things, and one of the guys everybody just rallied around. There’s certain guys that are a little bit more important in the clubhouse. And from Day 1 that he got here, he was that impactful.”

Jackson had a career renaissance last season with Oakland, pitching to a 3.33 ERA and 6-3 record in 17 starts, after posting an ERA above 5.00 in his two previous big league seasons.

The Athletics went 14-3 in his starts overall, and 56-27 from the date of his first outing on June 25 through the rest of the season as they charged to an AL Wild Card spot.

“Some guys are inspired by being around a certain group, and I think that was the case with him,” Melvin said. “And I expect it to be the same if indeed we do have him when he gets here.”

In the process, he perhaps proved to even one of baseball’s most analytically focused clubs that there’s a place for the so-called intangibles.

“I don’t think our expectations were anywhere near what he actually delivered for us,” Melvin said. “So you can forecast all you want. There’s certain guys that just step up. There’s certain guys in the moment who get better.”