Sox GM Williams: Jackson likely a keeper

CHICAGO | Kenny Williams will never say never but admitted Friday there's at least a 95 percent chance Edwin Jackson, his latest trade acquisition, stays a White Sox for the long run.

The Sox general manager finally pulled the trigger on his long-anticipated deadline deal by swapping top pitching prospect Daniel Hudson and minor-league lefty David Holmberg to the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 26-year-old Jackson, who threw a no-hitter June 25.

Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen put to rest persistent reports Jackson would in turn be flipped to the Washington Nationals for slugger Adam Dunn. Guillen announced Jackson will make his first Sox start Wednesday in Detroit, while Williams talked of Jackson's veteran presence for the stretch and status as a rotation member in 2011.

"It was expressed by Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) and Ozzie that we needed protection in the rotation," Williams said. "We had the (Jake) Peavy injury, and it's somewhat of a hole.

"When you have a contender, you want a little more certainty as to how you're going to be able to shape up in your rotation, which ultimately has an effect on your bullpen. The bullpen has been one of our strengths all year. The last thing we want to do is tax that bullpen at a time we're going to need them the most. This is going to come down to pitching as we go down the stretch."

Williams believes Cooper, who has handled reclamation projects such as Jose Contreras, can get Jackson back to the form he displayed last season with the Tigers. Cooper looked at Jackson video for an hour Thursday before Williams finalized the trade with interim D'backs GM Jerry DiPoto.

With the Tigers, Jackson was 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA and was named to the All-Star team. But he has been wildly inconsistent with a 6-10 record, 60 walks and 141 hits given up in 134 1/3 innings, and a 5.16 ERA in Arizona. He gave up an National League-leading 77 earned runs. Even his no-hitter, against the hitless-gem-prone Rays in Tampa, was a strugglefest -- eight walks, one hit batter and an astounding 149 pitches thrown.

"He's done good in our division, and he's a veteran, so there's some things we all got to like," said Cooper.

"Push comes to shove, for me, you always like a guy who's been through some things, not a rookie. That's not saying anything bad about Daniel Hudson. Hopefully he has a great career. But we're at where we're at.

"It looks like the columns we've got to get better control of are the walk column and the home-run column. Obviously pitching in this park compared to where he pitched last year in Detroit, this one plays a lot smaller."

Jackson also will be a hedge next season if Peavy, recovering from a large muscle that detached completely from his shoulder bone, is not ready to answer the bell coming out of spring training.

Williams could not promise another deal  by the trade deadline at 3 p.m. today. But he reminded media that he also has the waiver-trade period through Aug. 31 -- the deadline for postseason roster eligibility -- when even more teams drop out of contention and make players available. In such a situation, Williams picked up Alex Rios last August from Toronto.