If you predicted Edwin Jackson being traded to Toronto and then to St. Louis, please stand up now.
Edwin Jackson has been traded seven times since 2006. This is not because he is ineffective, but teams have not wanted to pay his salary or wanted to save money: Rays in 2007, Tigers in 2008. While on the other hand, teams have looked to acquire him to upgrade their starting pitching: Diamondbacks in 2009, White Sox in 2010 and now St. Louis in 2011. Then there are the teams that dealt him for prospects: Arizona in 2009 and Chicago again in 2011.

Just to give you an idea of what the trades actually looked like:
First Trade, Blue Jays and White Sox-
White Sox Acquire: relief pitcher Jason Frasor and starting pitching prospect Zach Stewart
Blue Jays Acquire: starting pitcher Edwin Jackson and utility man Mark Teahen

Second Trade, Blue Jays and Cardinals-
Cardinals Acquire: starting pitcher Edwin Jackson, relief pitchers  Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel and outfielder Corey Patterson
Blue Jays Acquire: Outfielder Colby Rasmus, and relief pitchers Trever Miller, Brian Tallet and P.J. Walters

A couple of interesting things on this deal:

• One, the Blue Jays dealt some of their surplus of quality relievers in Dotel and Rzepczynski, and got even more relivers in return in Miller, Walters and Tallet. Rzepczynski seemed like the least likely of the Toronto relievers to be moved because he was the youngest, cheapest and controlled by the team longer than the rest of Toronto’s pen.
• The Jays also get reliever Brian Tallet, who spent 2006-2010 in a Blue Jays uniform.
• This also ends the long-awaited speculation that Colby Rasmus would be dealt. The emergence of Jon Jay also helped Rasmus get moved. Supposed reports of Rasmus asking for a trade also might have come into play.
• Dotel continues to help teams find young players as he helped bring Rasmus to Toronto and last year’s trade brought James McDonald to Pittsburgh.
• Patterson has now played for four of the six NL central teams, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and now St. Louis.
• Stewart’s name might sound familiar. He was the centerpiece in the Scott Rolen trade a couple of years ago.
• The Blue Jays also picked up a more expensive version of Edwin Encarnacion, a player they already have, with less pop in Mark Teahen.
• In a related move, the White Sox called up outfielder Alejandro De Aza from AAA Charlotte.