We are now just about five weeks from the dates that pitchers and catchers will report for most teams, and Edwin Jackson, who pitched for the World Series champion Cardinals, is yet unsigned.

Perhaps that will change soon. Jon Heyman reports that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner met with Jackson’s agent Scott Boras in Phoenix, where owners are having meetings this week:

Yankees people seem to like Jackson but want to keep deals short because one of their greatest goals is to somehow get their payroll below the luxury tax threshold of $189 million by 2014. That isn’t going to be easy for a team that’s had a payroll in the $200-million range for years and is committed to $125 million for 10 players in ’14, but the reward is that their tax would go from 50 percent on dollars above the cap to a much more manageable 17 percent.

Heyman says the Orioles and Blue Jays are also interested in Jackson, who is just 28, and hasn’t been injured since becoming a regular rotation starter in 2007. He might be of particular use for all of the teams mentioned:

Jackson is a hard thrower who’s had success pitching against the other A.L. East teams (he’s 7-1 with a 3.10 ERA vs. the other four AL East teams over the past three years).

As always, we await further developments.