The two-and-a-half season tenure of Edwin Jackson as a Chicago Cub is over:

#Cubs DFA Edwin Jackson — Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 20, 2015

Designated for assignment, of course, means that the Cubs have 10 days during which Jackson could be claimed (unlikely, given the approximately $16 million left on his contract), traded, or released. It is, I suppose, possible that Jackson could be dealt to another team with a bad contract to dump, and I made one such suggestion earlier today.

The reason you'd designate someone like this is that doing so clears a spot on the 40-man roster, and here's why they did that:

In a corresponding move, the club has recalled Rafael Soriano.

This move will help the bullpen, obviously; Soriano appears good to go after seven appearances in the Cubs minor-league system. He threw seven innings, allowed four hits, three walks and an unearned run and struck out seven. Despite having a rough second half for the Nationals last year, Soriano has 207 career saves and multiple years of playoff experience.

I wish Edwin Jackson well. He always seemed to be working hard; the results just weren't there, and he never made excuses when he failed. He appeared to be a good guy who just wasn't good enough. I suppose if the Cubs do wind up releasing him, someone will pick him up for the major-league minimum.

In the meantime, the Cubs' bullpen just got a lot better.