The San Francisco Giants continue to find solutions for their 2018 outfield.
Fan Rag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported on Monday that the Giants and Austin Jackson agreed to a two-year deal worth $6 million. He says there are incentives that could make the deal worth $8.5 million.
Sources: Austin Jackson to giants. 6M, 2 Years. Elevators coukd take it to 8.5M.
Jackson had an incredibly strong season in part-time duty with the Indians last season. The soon-to-be 31-year-old batted .318/.387/.482 in 280 at-bats. A center fielder for most of his career, Jackson spent time at all three outfield positions for Cleveland in 2017.
Considering the Giants are getting Jackson for such a cheap price, they can afford to make him part of a platoon in center. Jackson proved to be particularly excellent against left handed pitching last season, as he batted .352 with a 1.014 OPS in 122 at-bats against southpaws.
Austin Jackson on Tuesday pulled off what may be one of the best home run-robbing catches at Fenway Park we’ve ever seen.
During the bottom of the fifth inning of the Red Sox-Indians game, the Cleveland center fielder raced towards the Red Sox bullpen and leaped to rob Hanley Ramirez of a home run:
Jackson went so high over the short fence that he flipped over into the bullpen.
The fans at Fenway appreciated the catch that robbed one of their players so much that they applauded Jackson when he came to the plate in the top of the sixth inning. Plays like that can sometimes supersede rivalries between teams.
Rosenthal also reports that Jackson turned down an offer worth more money from the Angels partially because of a desire to play center field (something not possible in Anaheim thanks to some dude named Mike Trout).
Source: Jackson chose #WhiteSox partly out of desire to play CF rather than LF. #Angels offered more money, but obviously not CF.
Jackson, 29, split time between the Mariners and the Cubs last season, batting a total of .267/.311/.385 with nine home runs, 48 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases.
A solid offensive contributor across the board and a strong defensive outfielder, the signing of Jackson adds to an impressive haul for the White Sox this winter that has already seen them land Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie. With a formidable pitching staff anchoring the team, Chicago is poised to make some noise this season, even in a tough AL Central.
Austin Jackson was traded to the Seattle Mariners as part of a three-team deal that brought David Price to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. Considering this year’s trade deadline was one of the most hectic in recent history, it only makes sense that Jackson got the news in the middle of an inning.
During the seventh inning of Detroit’s matinee game against the Chicago White Sox, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski walked into the dugout to inform manager Brad Ausmus that Jackson had been traded. In a humbling reminder of the fact that professional baseball is a business, Jackson jogged off the field and said farewell to his teammates.
How about the baseball IQ from the fans at Comerica Park? They immediately recognized what was going on and gave Jackson a standing ovation as he headed to the clubhouse. Some of the fans may have already found out on their smartphones that Detroit had a deal pending for David Price, but that was still an impressive display of awareness.
David Price has been traded to the Detroit Tigers, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The move was part of a three-team deal that will send Seattle Mariners shortstop Nick Franklin to the Tampa Bay Rays and Austin Jackson to Seattle. The Rays also get 25-year-old starting pitcher Drew Smyly from Detroit.
And with that, Thursday’s trade deadline was anything but uneventful.
Two of the best lefthanded pitchers in the game found new homes before the 4 p.m. deadline passed. Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes were traded to the Oakland A’s earlier in the day in exchange for Yoenis Cespedes. The Red Sox also dealt John Lackey to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe Kelly and Allen Craig.
What makes this deadline — which has been one of the most exciting in recent history — so interesting is the amount of big names that have exchanged. Typically when we see top-tier starting pitching like Lester and Price traded, a boatload of prospects are involved. For whatever reason, Thursday’s deadline was more about star power than prospects. We have no complaints about that.
Starting pitching wins in the postseason. The A’s and Tigers are two of the best teams in the American League, and both have drastically improved their starting rotations. The Mariners also picked up some much-needed offense by adding Jackson. Almost all of the teams involved in Thursday’s blockbuster deals did well for themselves on some level, at least on paper.
Miguel Cabrera did what Miguel Cabrera does … yet it was all a little too much for Austin Jackson to take in Tuesday.
The Detroit Tigers were getting shut out by the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 in the top of the ninth. They had two on with two outs and Miggy at the plate. And of course Cabrera belted a 3-run home run to put the Tigers ahead, and they went on to win 4-1. But the best part was Austin Jackson’s reaction to what Miggy did.
That’s the total, “bro, are you even human?” look. And it was so appropriate.
By the way, how textbook was Miggy’s approach on that pitch? 1-0 count and he was totally thinking “sit back on fastball, adjust to the curve.” He strided ahead for the fastball, kept his body weight back and had enough left to launch the breaking ball over the fence. That’s why he’s the best.
Detroit Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson is a tremendous athlete. Baseball America named him the best 12-year-old baseball player in the nation in 1999 and the best 15-year-old player a few years later. Coming out of high school, Jackson was also a top-ranked point guard prospect after averaging 22.5 points per game as a junior. That explains why he can dunk so easily.
Torii Hunter posted a video on Instagram of the 6-foot-1 Jackson throwing down a dunk with ease. It was what Hunter wrote along with the video that made it even more great.
“It’s Austin Jackson the Tigers Centerfielder,” Hunter wrote. “I did this when I was younger but there was no video or cell phones then. #straightathlete #madhops#nohomerunsaresafe.”
For the record, Hunter is 6-foot-2. He’s also 38 years old, so the Tigers probably don’t want him dunking basketballs in his spare time. Plenty of NBA players who are the same height as Jackson (Rajon Rondo to name one) can dunk, but the video still highlights how athletic he really is. It looked like the dude jumped off a trampoline.
