Consider what I wrote when the St. Louis Cardinals acquired pitcher Edwin Jackson from the Chicago White Sox (via the Toronto Blue Jays) last July:

So the Cardinals are Jackson’s sixth big league club (including the five minutes he spent with the Jays) in less than three years. Jackson joins a Cardinals team that is currently in first place in the NL Central and is now part of a starting rotation in St. Louis which includes Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse. But even if the Cards should win the World Series methinks Jackson will be pitching elsewhere in 2012. He is a free agent at the end of the season.

I guess you could call him Travelin’ Edwin Jackson.

Well, the Cardinals did win the World Series and Jackson, true to form, has moved on. Today, Jackson signed a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals pending a physical. Jackson went a combined 12-9 with a 3.79 ERA along with 148 strikeouts in just under 200 innings pitched with the Chisox and Cardinals in 2011.

The Nats look like they could contend in 2012 especially if MLB decides to add a second Wild Card spot. In any case, Jackson joins a starting rotation which includes Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Chien-Ming Wang and ex-Oakland Athletic Gio Gonzalez.

Interestingly, the 28-year old Jackson was offered several multiple year deals with the Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles but decided to seek a one-year deal so he could re-enter the free agent market after this season. Jackson’s decision to sign with the Nats is no doubt disappointing to Pittsburgh Pirates fans who had lobbied him to sign with the Bucs through Twitter. But who knows? The Nats are Jackson’s seventh big league team and probably not his last. Maybe Pirates fans will get their wish in 2013.

Of course, Jackson has a long way to go before he catches up to his former Cardinals teammate Octavio Dotel who, now as a member of the Detroit Tigers, will have pitched for an MLB record 13 teams.