Cubs, righthander Edwin Jackson agree to terms on four-year contract

CHICAGO – The Chicago Cubs and right-handed pitcher Edwin Jackson have agreed to terms on a four-year contract.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 
Jackson, 29, has pitched all or part of the last 10 major league seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2003-05), Tampa Bay (2006-08), Detroit (2009), Arizona (2010), the White Sox (2010-11), St. Louis (2011) and Washington (2012).  He has reached 31 or more starts in each of his last six seasons, has recorded double digits in wins in each of the last five seasons and has exceeded 180.0 innings pitched in each of the last five years, including three-straight seasons of 199.2 innings or more from 2009-11.
 
A 2009 American League All-Star with Detroit, Jackson has gone 45-41 with a 3.98 ERA (359 ER/812.2 IP) in 128 appearances (127 starts) the last four seasons starting with that All-Star campaign.  A year after recording a career-high 14 wins with Tampa Bay in 2008, Jackson went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA (86 ER/214.0 IP) in 33 starts in his lone season with the Tigers, tying for fourth in the league in starts and ranking seventh in ERA and innings.
 
Jackson split the 2010 season between the Diamondbacks and White Sox, throwing a no-hitter with Arizona at Tampa Bay on June 25, and joined the Cardinals near the trade deadline in 2011.  He went 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA (31 ER/78.0 IP) in 13 appearances (12 starts) down the stretch to help the Cardinals to the postseason and the 2011 World Series title.  In his lone season with Washington in 2012, Jackson went 10-11 with a 4.03 ERA (85 ER/189.2 IP) in 31 starts to help the Nationals franchise to their first playoff appearance in the Nation’s Capital.
 
The 6-foot-3, 208-pound righthander made his major league debut with the Dodgers in 2003 at the age of 20 (earning the win in his big league debut on his birthday, September 9) and was the youngest player in the National League in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.  The righthander completed his first full major league season with Tampa Bay in 2007 and was an All-Star two seasons later.
 
Jackson is 70-71 with a 4.40 ERA (620 ER/1,268.2 IP) in 234 career big league appearances, 204 as a starter.  A native of Neu-Ulm, Germany, Jackson’s father (Edwin, Sr.) is a retired United States Army Sergeant First Class.  Jackson was originally selected by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 2001 Draft.