Earlier Thursday, we heard reports that the Washington Nationals were trying to give away John Lannan to clear space for free agent Edwin Jackson. It was reminiscent of those reports that the St. Louis Cardinals were trying to deal Kyle McClellan to clear space for free agent Roy Oswalt. Neither Lannan nor McClellan has yet been traded. But apparently the Nationals have decided to make things messy and worry about the clean-up later on.

Jon Heyman:

edwin jackson in agreement with #nationals on deal. (he was seen in airport for physical)

There's no word yet on the terms. Jackson's deal is pending a physical. But it looks like Jackson is headed for the nation's capital, since Heyman usually isn't wrong about these things. Especially when these things involve Scott Boras clients.

The last three years, Jackson's posted a 3.96 ERA over 96 starts. That's an ERA figure eight percent better than the league average. He has excellent stuff, although he doesn't always pitch up to it, and if everything goes smoothly, he'll join Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann in what's becoming a heck of a rotation. There are also other guys - including, at present, John Lannan! - but they're much worse so we won't talk about them right now.