Lynn Henning

So far, Tigers love Edwin Jackson-Matt Joyce deal

Detroit

On Tuesday evening, at a ballpark 1,200 miles from Comerica Park, a Tampa Bay Rays team got ready to play the Philadelphia Phillies as last year's World Series teams held a reunion at Tropicana Field.

One difference from last October's rosters was on the mound Tuesday at Comerica Park.

Edwin Jackson no longer was pitching for Tampa Bay. He was starting for Detroit. A pitcher, who has had as much to say about the Tigers being in first place as Justin Verlander, has pitched so well one wonders whether the Rays can bear to read the boxscore after Jackson has pitched.

After Tuesday's no-decision against the Cubs, he is 6-4 with a dazzling 2.40 ERA. He has been a dominant starting pitcher and is 25 years old.

Meanwhile, the player the Tigers sent to Tampa Bay in what was viewed almost casually last December is back in the minor leagues. Matt Joyce is playing for Triple-A Durham and batting .278 with five home runs and 28 RBIs in 49 games.

It would be fair to wonder what the Rays were thinking last December. Jackson had won 14 games for the Rays in 2009. He had the kind of right-handed arm scouts and front-office snoops view as trophy-case material.

And yet they sent him to Detroit for a 24-year-old corner outfielder.

Jackson will be expensive

The surprise is that Tampa Bay hasn't expressed any regrets, publicly or privately.

The Rays still believe they made a good deal. And they mean it.

And by the time both players have settled into the primes of their careers, the Rays, in fact, may have gained as much from Joyce as the Tigers are extracting from Jackson.

At least, that's what they profess.

As difficult as the Rays' line of thought is to swallow in Detroit, the rationale for their swap hasn't changed an iota. It relates to two realities that are particular to Tampa Bay.

Jackson: He will again be arbitration-eligible after this season and don't you envy his agent, not to mention Jackson?

Should his first-half exploits carry through the season, Jackson could be looking at something pushing $10 million. Two years from this autumn, he should be eligible for free agency.

Now you know why the Rays, who were deeper in pitching than they were in payroll flexibility, needed to part with Jackson when starting pitching was their strong suit.

Joyce was the other reason Tampa Bay shipped Jackson to Detroit.

They loved his gorgeous left-handed swing, his power, the ground he can cover in the outfield and his age. He had been in the big leagues less than a year when the Rays decided to make him their one-for-one trade chip in parting with Jackson and bringing aboard Joyce.

He's a long way from arbitration and even farther from free agency. That translates into a healthy and manageable payroll presence for a team obliged to watch its pennies.

Spare parts

Did the Tigers view it as a trade made in heaven? Based upon their realities -- a desperate need for power pitching at the top of the rotation, and a more flexible payroll -- it was the kind of deal Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers president and general manager, dreams of making every year.

Interestingly, the Tigers could also view their outfield stocks as being deeper than Tampa Bay's. There weren't a lot of sure big league starters in the cupboard when Dombrowski dealt Joyce, but there were enough candidates -- Clete Thomas, Wilkin Ramirez, Casper Wells, and even Brent Clevlen -- that Dombrowski could afford to trade a young outfielder who hasn't yet mastered the breaking pitch.

A couple of more prospects have emerged in the months since, beginning with Ryan Strieby, a big hitter who is shifting from first base to left field, as well as Brennan Boesch and Deik Scram.

In short, the Tigers had spare parts -- plenty of them -- as they considered for maybe a 10th-of-a-second whether to send Joyce to Tampa Bay.

Jackson on Tuesday night -- he allowed two earned runs on four hits in seven innings -- did nothing to make the Tigers any less happy with their December transaction.

And no matter what Tampa Bay thinks of it, now or in the future, the Tigers already like this trade as much as the Rays, however futuristically, insist they will, as well.

lynn.henning@detnews.com