To start things off at BP South Side, we are reviewing the offseason moves of White Sox GM Rick Hahn in a staff-wide series. Wrapping up the series is Nick Schaefer on Austin Jackson.
For a player who is essentially a glove-first, solid piece, Austin Jackson can be viewed through a multitude of lenses. From ages 23-26, Jackson averaged 3.2 WARP per season, including a 5.5 mark in 2012. He would go on to post a total of 2.8 in 2014 and 2015 combined. Still just 29-years old, he’s an athletic, plus defender who is also somehow well-removed from his prime.
From the White Sox perspective, Jackson is still a significant add. The organization took major steps toward upgrading the offense this winter, which was, indeed, a huge weakness in 2015. However, the team defense was also appalling last year (26th in MLB in PADE), and only Todd Frazier was looking like a meaningful add on that side of the ball prior to Jackson’s arrival. The cascading effect of replacing Avisail Garcia’s horrible corner defense with Jackson’s plus work in center means having defensive assets in CF and one corner (wherever Adam Eaton shifts), instead of potentially being below-average or bad at all three spots.
On the other hand, while it is nice that Jackson required only a one-year commitment and didn’t cost a draft pick, this is a pretty poor consolation prize. Rick Hahn entered the offseason with disastrous situations at third base, second base, right field, and — given that Alexei Ramirez was jettisoned — shortstop As discussed above, Hahn managed to address the first two on that list by trading for Frazier and Brett Lawrie while there were still a plethora of free agent outfielders available.
Agonizingly, for several months, White Sox fans had to watch as each of the elite (and then great, and then very good, and then average) outfielders got snatched up by other teams, including two division rivals. Jackson is obviously a cut below at least five other free agents who could have emphatically solved the Avisail Garcia Problem. While what Hahn is able to accomplish on a shoestring budget is impressive, it is frustrating that after years of cutting costs, the organization’s savings were not leveraged to vault the team into a strong competitive position as it enters its eighth season since the last playoff appearance.
If Jackson can contribute strong CF defense and halt his bat’s rapid erosion for a season — or even bounce back a little — he is an obvious upgrade and may be enough to nudge them even closer to playoff contention. It is also comforting that the front office took a tangible step toward phasing out Garcia instead of giving him enough rope to hang the entire roster, as they have done in the past. Yet, unless 2016 turns into some sort of magical romp, it will be hard to remember this aspect of the offseason as anything other than extremely shrewd maneuvering sabotaged by a missed opportunity.