Before last season’s trade deadline, the Chicago White Sox acquired Edwin Jackson from the Arizona Diamondbacks. At the time it was thought that the move was made in order to flip Jackson and get Adam Dunn.

Whether or not the White Sox had a deal in place with the Washington Nationals, that eventually dissolved, is no longer an issue. Because it may worked out better for the White Sox if that was the case.

Now the White Sox have Dunn and Jackson, and they’re both looking like they’ll be big contributors for the team this season.

“Edwin Jackson still pitches like a power pitcher,” Peter Gammons, of the MLB Network, said on the Mully and Hanley Show. “And there are few people who are better with power pitchers, in my mind, as a pitching coach, than Don Cooper.

LISTEN: Peter Gammons On The Mully And Hanley Show

“I look at Jackson now and I go ‘you know, this guy is going to rack up 200 innings.’ I don’t know what the win total is going to be, wins can be accidental at times. But at the same time, I think he’s a real solid guy now. He’s a nice contrast in some ways. And he’s a great safety net if Jake Peavy can’t come back. I think Edwin and the White Sox were the right marriage at the right time.”

In Jackson’s two starts this season, he’s given up a combined nine hits, three earned runs and struck out 20 batters in 14 inning pitched. And he set the franchise record for strike outs in a home opener, with 13, on Thursday.