THE GONZALEZ VS. JACKSON DEBATE

Dave Cameron of Fangraphs asked a terrific question the other day on Twitter and they deserve a ton of credit for it because it's provocative and something no one is asking...read it HERE. Dave asked "Everyone's willing to give up their best pitching prospect to get Gio Gonzalez, but no one wants Edwin Jackson? Why?"

It turns out, after further analysis that they concluded Gio Gonzalez walks alot of guys and the breakdown on Fangraphs was superb. Read it HERE. It’s a very interesting problem I guess, but because I handle things simply for the baseball fan who doesn't dive into to stats, I'll give you my take from a rabid Yankee fans hearts perspective; Gio Gonzalez fits the Yankee mold. Gio carries himself like a New York Yankee and offers some stability and guts in the #2 spot of the Yankee rotation. To put it simply, if I’m looking at the Yankee rotation with Gio Gonzalez in it, it looks like this:

1. CC Sabathia

2. Gio Gonzalez

3. Ivan Nova

4. AJ Burnett

5. Phil Hughes or Freddy Garcia

Now I know, you can switch lefties for righties and back and forth all you want, but this is my take. With someone like Edwin Jackson, it would look like this:

1. CC Sabathia

2. Ivan Nova

3. Edwin Jackson

4. AJ Burnett

5. Phil Hughes or Freddy Garcia

Maybe not too different, maybe you trust Nova in the 2 hole after last season, but believe it or not we don't know how he's going to be after a long year with an increased innings season. Look at what happened to Phil Hughes? I'm just being cautious. I just don't look at Edwin Jackson and think of him as a top starter. I think of him as an extra arm who can help a ball club. Maybe it’s because he’s bounced around every year from ball club to ball club. I don't know. To me, he's got this perception that he's filler and not an anchor. My opinion of course.

Another point and this is minor...Edwin Jackson is a righty. Again, there is NOTHING wrong with that, but having an extra lefty starter is always a good thing in my opinion. Now, as far as that walk ration for Gio is concerned, I believe that can be fixed. Why? Well, Larry Rothschild is the best as his craft and while he’s improved the entire Yankee ball club increasing their strikeout rates, he can also tweak Gio Gonzalez and lower those walk numbers. I firmly believe that. So while I totally get what Fangraphs is saying, it’s something I am not worried about.

Here is the lines of both Gio and Edwin:

Gio Gonzalez: 16-12 / 3.12 ERA / 202.0 IP / 70 ER / 197 SO / 91 BB

Edwin Jackson: 12-9 / 3.79 ERA / 199.2 IP / 84 ER / 148 SO / 62 BB

Numbers tell the whole story, but let’s face it, if you analyze numbers all day long you’ll go crazy. That's why I throw alittle gut check in there. In the end, for me a fan, my gut makes the final decision for me. Of course, I could be wrong and that's fine, but I like Gio in this matchup.

So what do you think? Who would you pick? Vote in our poll. Once the results are concluded, we’ll write a post about it. Why? Because we like you... that’s why.

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