PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks traded away an All-Star pitcher for the second time in a week, sending right-hander Edwin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox on Friday for rookie Daniel Hudson and prospect David Holmberg.
Arizona shipped three-time All-Star Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels for left-hander Joe Saunders and three other players last week. The last-place Diamondbacks continued their rebuilding project by moving Jackson, an All-Star in 2009 who tossed the second no-hitter in franchise history June 25 against Tampa Bay.
"Edwin Jackson did a terrific job. We appreciate everything he's done for us," Diamondbacks interim general manager Jerry Dipoto said. "He threw a big no-hitter for us against Tampa Bay and was a quality individual who brought a lot to our team, but we felt like this was a great opportunity for us to build toward the future with Daniel Hudson and even further in the future with a prospect like David Holmberg."
Arizona's purge gives Chicago a solid addition to its rotation, which is missing injured right-hander Jake Peavy, the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner. The White Sox have a 1½-game lead in the AL Central over Minnesota.
Jackson was 6-10 with a 5.16 ERA in 21 starts for the Diamondbacks this year, coming off an All-Star season in which he went 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA in 33 starts covering 214 innings for Detroit.
The 27-year-old has exceptional stuff, but has been known to have control problems. Jackson issued eight walks in his 149-pitch no-hitter against the Rays and averages more than four walks per nine innings, well above the league average.
The White Sox also recalled right-hander Lucas Harrell from Triple-A Charlotte and he beat Oakland 6-1 Friday night in his major league debut while starting in place of Hudson. Harrell was 9-9 with a 4.24 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 22 starts with Charlotte this season.
The move makes the Diamondbacks younger and allows them to trim the nearly $10 million in salary Jackson is due through 2011 under the two-year contract he signed before this season.
"I have nothing but good things to say about Edwin," Arizona interim manager Kirk Gibson said in New York before his team played the Mets. "We hate to lose him. At the same time, we've picked up an important part for our future and maybe it gives us some flexibility for the future to improve some things around here."
Hudson, a 23-year-old right-hander, has been one of Chicago's top prospects since being selected by the White Sox in the fifth round of the 2008 amateur draft, going 30-13 with a 2.90 ERA in 57 minor league games from 2008-10. He was Chicago's minor league pitcher of the year last season and has made three starts in the majors this year, going 1-1 with a 6.32 ERA.
He joined the Diamondbacks on Friday night and is slated to start Sunday's series finale against the Mets.
"Sometimes stuff like that has to happen. It's a business. I think they want to make a move to improve their team, they don't really care what anyone thinks about it," Hudson said. "I was having fun over there and I expect to have fun over here."
Hudson was 2-2 with a 7.34 ERA in nine games with the White Sox over the past two seasons.
"Looks like we picked up a good young prospect," Gibson said, adding that the scouting report he read indicated Hudson had good stuff and fine makeup. "I guess he's the kind of guy who's projected to be a pretty darn good starter."
Holmberg, a 19-year-old left-hander, was a second-round pick by the White Sox last year and has spent the past two seasons in the lower levels of the organization, going 3-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 21 games, including 14 starts.
"We're trying to create as much flexibility and change the structure of the way our team is built, take more of a look toward developing into the future while creating enough flexibility to shift pieces around so as we go into the offseason we can address some of the holes we have," Dipoto said. "We're a last-place team and have been for two years, and this is an opportunity for us to address our short- and long-term goals, which is to put a quality major league club on the field."
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