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The top free-agent pitcher left on the market is no longer on the market as right-hander Edwin Jackson has agreed to a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals, which could make the Nats a legitimate online sport bets option to win the NL East.

The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles also were hard after Jackson. The hard-throwing 28-year-old will be entering his 10th major league season with his seventh new team. Despite a fastball that averaged 94.5 mph in 2011 and a no-hitter on his resume, Jackson has been traded six times, including twice on July 27, 2011 in a three-team trade that brought him from the White Sox to the Cardinals. He finished 2011 with a 12-9 record and 3.79 ERA and was an integral part of the Cardinals’ march toward a championship, which paid off well on online sport bets at WagerWeb.com.

Jackson spurned longer-term offers from teams in the American League to sign with the Nationals. The one-year deal gives him the chance to pitch in the less challenging National League before hitting the free agent market again next winter, he hopes, with a rebuilt value.

Jackson will join the Nationals‘ rotation as the team’s projected fourth starter behind Stephen Strasburg, new acquisition Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann, and he’s long been on the Nationals‘ radar. GM Mike Rizzo was interested in trading for him in 2010 and noted Thursday that he’s personally scouted him in the past. Play on online sports bet now on the Nats’ 2012 futures at WagerWeb.com.

In essence, the Nats now have seven qualified starters with the four mentioned above and Chien- Ming Wang, John Lannan and Ross Detwiler – those three will battle for the No. 5 spot in the rotation. Rizzo indicated that acquiring Jackson makes the Nationals no more likely to trade one of their starting pitchers.

While Jackson gives the Nationals an abundance of starters, the team is in position to acquire depth in its rotation. Pitching his first full season since Tommy John surgery, Strasburg will throw no more than about 160 innings. He still is among the Cy Young candidates on online sport bets. Last year, Wang returned from a shoulder operation that sidelined him for more than two years. Zimmermann has never pitched more than 200 innings.

In looking across the league, Rizzo found that six of the eight playoff teams included at least two starters who pitched 200 innings. The Nationals now have insurance should they suffer a spring training injury to their rotation.

The Nationals are still a long shot to win the NL East on online sport bets but certainly could contend for a wild-card spot with their new rotation now likely to be one of the best in the NL.

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