LA Angels starter John Lackey beat Baltimore last-night, to gain his 99th career Major League win.
After the game, Lackey was quoted about serving as an instructor to young Angel starters Sean O’Sullivan, and Trevor Bell.
“I’ve been fielding a lot of questions, lately, with the two new guys,” Lackey said. “Especially Sully, he’s a guy that really wants to learn and asks a lot of questions, and that’s cool. I feel like it’s not that long ago I was the one asking all of the questions so it’s a little bit weird in that way, but I’ve won a couple of games and might have a little insight for him.”
Lackey is an impending Free Agent, who will turn 31 in October. The Texas native, has been an Angel his entire career.
I have trouble believing the O’s would be able to bring Lackey to Baltimore, by just paying the market-value.
To put Lackey in an Oriole uniform, they would likely have to pay a premium for doing so.
Does that make sense for the O’s?
You could argue, that if Lackey is growing comfortable with being a mentor, that it could.
Ideally, if the Orioles were to sign Lackey, Guthrie would be moved.
This would give you a 2010 Opening Day rotation of Lackey, Bergesen, Matusz, Tillman, Hernandez. When you were ready to promote Arrieta, Hernandez would head to the bullpen.
Here is the question for the O’s. If you want that mentor / front of the rotation type; is Lackey the guy you over-spend for?
He already has 1,443 career innings on his arm. He recored at-least 32 starts per year from 2003 through 2007.
In 2008, he made only 24 starts, missing the first six-weeks with a strained right-triceps.
In 2009, he against missed the first six-weeks, this time due to a strained forearm.
For his career, Lackey has a .718 OPS against. In 2009, he is holding hitters to a .698 OPS against.
For his career, Lackey has a 0.83 Grounder to Fly-ball ratio. In 2009, he has a 0.81 G/FB ratio.
He has a 7.24 K per 9 inning ratio for his career, and 7.53 K per 9 inning ratio for 2009.
His control has always been very good, and is still the case in 2009, but not quite as good as it was in his prime seasons. (52 walks in 224 innings in 2007, 33 walks in 118.1 innings in 2009).
Lackey went into 2009, looking for a 5 year $80-$90M deal.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/26/sports/sp-angels-fyi26
So Baltimore, I ask you. Do you have the appetite to bid $16-$18M per year over 5 years for John Lackey?
The O’s will have the financial ability to do, but overall I do not think it makes sense for the O’s.
At-least not at that price. You would be paying for what Lackey has done in the past, not for what he is likely to do going forward.
Lackey’s comment about mentoring, and past-performance, will make the O’s consider the option. At the end of the day, the O’s will rightly decide the costs (in salary, and more importantly years) is too-high.
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Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.