Edwin Jackson has signed a one-year contract with the Nationals worth something like $10 million or $11 million. When Jackson signed, there was talk that he had multi-year offers on the table. One of those multi-year offers was said to come from the Orioles, so when Jackson turned them down, everybody was like "oh well of course." But another one of those multi-year offers apparently came from a more appealing destination. Ken Rosenthal:

Sources: #Pirates made 3-yr offer to Edwin Jackson. Also made him 1-yr offer below reported $11M Jackson received from #Nationals

Do not know exact amount of #Pirates' 3-year offer to E. Jackson, but told it was substantial, in range of $10M a year.

It's one thing to say no to the Orioles, since Orioles, but the Pirates? Granted, for a while, the Pirates and the Orioles were basically the same thing, but in 2011 the Pirates showed promise. They showed that they might be on the right track. Jackson turned down three years with them for one year with the Nationals?

Well, yeah. I mean, the Pirates still have a long ways to go. The Nationals might be ready to contend now. And it's not like Jackson assumes he's going to suck or get hurt in 2012, so he can get right back into the market and find eight figures somewhere else. The Pirates have more going for them than they have in the past, but the Nationals have more. Lots more.