I finally had it with Gates (who was already making almost $11M and was a free agent at year's end) and Neil (anyone who follows here knows how bad he's been over the last year-plus despite having excellent ratings), so I was able to parlay them, along with 3 minor leaguers who aren't big-time prospects (Stapleton is the best, he could be a 4th/5th OF as he can hit for average but doesn't have the power for a corner OF) for Jackson, one of the league's better starters:
Jackson is making the minimum this year but is arb-eligible next season and projected for $6M, a reasonable amount. You can see from his ratings and his stats that his big thing is not allowing homers, something always welcomed. My assistant GM did not like the deal but he hasn't managed the games that Gates and Neil has pitched, so his objections were noted and ignored.