CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox traded pitcher Edwin Jackson and utilityman Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
The White Sox will receive reliever Jason Frasor and pitching prospect Zach Stewart.
A short time later Wednesday, the Blue Jays turned around and traded Jackson to the St. Louis Cardinals in an eight player deal that netted Toronto
Colby Rasmus, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.
The Cards sent Rasmus Trever Miller, Brian Tallet and P.J. Walters to the Jays for Jackson, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel and Corey Patterson.
Miller, a left-handed reliever, will then go from the Blue Jays to the White Sox, sources told Olney.
The White Sox say the move with the Blue Jays not only gets Jesse Crain some right-handed relief help in the bullpen, it also helps shed some payroll. The White Sox started the season with a club record payroll that reached just beyond the $127 million mark.
"Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen are the consummate professionals, just good guys and good workers, but we needed to make a little bit of a dent in our payroll here which has been stressed a little bit," general manager Kenny Williams said. "We did not want to be making a move that would be counterproductive to the opportunity for us to win still so how can we accomplish both of the goals?"
The White Sox chose to deal from a strength (starting pitching) while shedding not only what is left of Teahen's $4.75 million salary form this season, but his $5.5 million salary in 2012.
The move returns the White Sox to a five-man rotation. Frasor helps bolster the bullen, which had been operating a man short most of the season as the club went with six starters.
"We began to get worried about Jesse Crain's usage and over-usage," Williams said. "Not that he's being overused but the potential in August and September is to really tax a guy, he becomes ineffective and you might end up hurting him."
The White Sox and Cardinals reportedly had talked about a Jackson-Rasmus deal, although Williams said Tuesday the particulars reported in that deal were not correct.
Jackson is no stranger to trades. The Dodgers traded him to the Rays in 2006. The Rays shipped him to the Tigers in 2008. He landed with the Diamondbacks in 2009 in a three-team blockbuster that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. And the White Sox acquired him at last year's trade deadline for Daniel Hudson and minor leaguer David Holmberg.
"I was born on the move," said Jackson, whose father is a retired Army Sergeant First Class. "Being a military brat, my whole life I've been moving, making new friends. I'm a phone call away from anybody I want to get in contact with. It sucks when you start becoming close-knit and friendly with the guys you've been here with for a while. I can still call and check on everyone. At the end of the day, once I'm gone, my focus is on the team I'm playing with."
Jackson and Teahen were informed of the latest trade by Williams before Wednesday's game against the Detroit Tigers.
"Chicago is a great city, it is a great team, good group of guys here," Teahen said. "I loved my time here. Obviously, I wanted to be healthy more of it, more productive and get more playing time and whatever, but it is what it is. It's part of my career, I definitely enjoyed my time here and will think of it fondly."
Williams said Monday that the three-game series against the Tigers, who are 4½ games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Central, would determine whether the White Sox would be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, which is Sunday.
After winning the first game of the series on Monday, the White Sox lost 5-4 on Tuesday.
Frasor is 2-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 44 games with Toronto. The 33-year-old Chicago native, who played at Southern Illinois, has a $3.75 million club option for the 2012 season.
Stewart, 24, is 0-1 with a 4.86 ERA in three starts with the Blue Jays this season. He was ranked the team's No. 3 prospect by ESPN Insider Keith Law this preseason.
Jackson is 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA this season, while Teahen had a .203 batting average in 51 games, hitting three home runs with 11 RBIs. The move makes Omar Vizquel the White Sox's primary backup third baseman behind Brent Morel.
Since finances aren't the chief concern of manager Ozzie Guillen, he was asked of his perception of the deal from a purely talent standpoint.
"I think overall it's an even trade because I think we got a guy (Frasor) that can help us," Guillen said. "I'm not saying Edwin can't, but this kid, we need a right-handed pitcher out of the bullpen, and I think he's going to be a pretty good addition to the ballclub."
Doug Padilla covers the White Sox for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.