It was a cleaver nickname: The Jacksonville Five – a play on words from the legendary Motown pop group The Jackson Five which, of course, eventually gave us superstar Michael Jackson.

But The Jacksonville Five weren’t musicians, they were five top Dodgers prospects who played for the (then) Dodgers Double-A affiliate Jacksonville Suns in 2005 – catcher Russell Martin, infielders Andy LaRoche and Joel Guzman, and pitchers Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley. They were considered the cream of the crop, the best in the Dodgers farm system, the future of the Dodgers organization.

Broxton was the first of the five to make it to The Show, making his MLB debut with the Dodgers on July 29, 2005. He was followed by Martin on May 5, 2006, Guzman on June 1, 2006, Billingsley on June 15, 2006 and finally LaRoche on May 6, 2007.

Chad Billingsley made his MLB debut on June 15, 2006 beating the Padres 7-3 for his first career win. (Photo credit – Lenny Ignelzi)

But Jacksonville is a long way from Dodger Stadium, a very long way – not just in distance (2,416 miles) but in skill level. And as often happens in the big leagues, The Jacksonville Five soon became the Jacksonville Four; and then Three… and so on.

Guzman was the first to go. He was traded to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays on July 31, 2006, having appeared in only eight games with the Dodgers.

LaRoche was plagued by injuries and after being bounced back and forth between the Dodgers and Triple-A Albuquerque several times, he was eventually traded the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 31, 2008 in the deal that brought Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers.

After five seasons with the Dodgers, Martin was non-tendered on December 10, 2010 and immediately picked up as a free agent by the New York Yankees.

Broxton, who had several excellent seasons with the Dodgers, completely fell apart after two horrific postseason blown saves – one in 2008 and the other in 2009. He was not re-signed by the team after a dismal 1-2, 5.68 ERA injury riddled 2011 season. He was later picked up by the Royals as a free agent and subsequently traded to the Reds and Brewers..

And then there was one.

Chad Billingsley’s first seven seasons with the Dodgers were impressive, very impressive. In fact, he never had a losing season as a Dodger – not one. When Clayton Kershaw joined the team in May of 2008, many baseball experts, journalist and fans were referring to the duo of Kershaw and Billingsley as this generation’s Koufax and Drysdale.

Because of his success, Billingsley was given an unprecedented three-year/$35 million contract extension on March 29, 2011 – a contract extension that would not even go into effect until the 2012 season more that a year away. The deal guaranteed the (then) 26-year-old Defiance, Ohio native $9 million in 2012, $11 million in 2013 and $12 million in 2014 and it included a $14 million club option for 2015 or a guaranteed $3 million buyout. It was, without question, one of the riskiest contracts that (now) former general manager Ned Colletti had ever agreed to (Jason Schmidt and Andruw Jones notwithstanding).

Oh sure, Billingsley had proven himself as a top-of-the-rotation-type pitcher, but the Dodgers would have been much better off giving Billingsley a one or two year contract extension thereby avoiding arbitration. But instead, the Dodgers were now on the hook for a guaranteed minimum of $38 million ($35 million plus the $3 million buyout) and possibly as much as $49 million ($35 million plus the $14 million club option).

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Billingsley made exactly 27 starts from the day that his new contract took effect on opening day 2012 until the day it ended on October 7, 2014. During the life of the contract, Billingsley spent more than half of it on the disabled list, having undergone two elbow surgeries. When you do the math, Billingsley made $1,407,074 for each of his 27 starts. During those 27 starts he made it out of the seventh inning exactly twice and he did not have even one complete game.

Nobody, absolutely nobody thought that Billingsley’s start on April 15, 2013 (Jackie Robinson Day) would be his final start as a Dodger. Ironically, it too was against the Padres with Billingsley suffering the 6-3 loss. (Photo credit – Jae C. Hong)

To his credit, Billingsley attempted to make a comeback during the 2014 season from his April 2013 Tommy John surgery. He made two rehab starts with the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes pitching a total of three innings. After his second rehab start, Billingsley felt discomfort in his surgically repaired right elbow and an MRI revealed that he had a tear in his flexor tendon that required a second surgery, thus ending his bid for a return to action in the final year of his three-year contract.

This put the Dodgers in a difficult position. Do they exercise their $14 million option on Billingsley for the 2015 season not knowing if he will ever start again and stick him in an already overpriced Dodger bullpen or do the buy him out of his contract for $3 million. In reality the Dodgers never really had a choice and on Friday morning the team announced that they had declined Billingsley’s option – thus closing the book on The Jacksonville Five.

In his eight seasons with the Dodgers Billingsley posted an impressive 81-61 record and 3.65 ERA; however his WHIP was anything but impressive at 1.361. And though he struck out 1,037 batters in his eight seasons with the Dodgers, he also walked 491 batters for a lackluster K/BB ration of 2.11 (Kershaw’s is 3.41).

There is still the possibility that the Dodgers could take a flyer on Billingsley and sign him to a less expensive free agent contract or perhaps even to a minor league contract with an invitation to big league spring training camp, but it is more likely that some other team may be willing to take a gamble on the now 30-year-old right-hander and offer him more than what the Dodgers are willing to pay him. It actually might not be as big of a gamble as some may think. Early last month Billingsley said that he is on pace to be ready by spring training.

“[I’ve been doing] shoulder exercising, running and lower body work a lot,” said Billingsley. “It’s mostly just waiting allowing my surgery to heal on its own and start throwing by the end of November and be ready by spring training.”

Regardless of where Billingsley may end up and in spite of the tremendous amount of money that he was paid for not pitching, he is a good guy and good teammate, and it is impossible not to wish him well.

Godspeed to you, Chad.