John Lackey: Should He Stay or Should He Go?

ohh wait! Break the bank on this kid asap.

…any FA pitching contract of longer than 4 years will end up being a disaster. You get 2 good years, if you’re lucky, and then the wear and tear starts to tell (e.g. Hampton, Zito). Even 4 years can be risky (e.g. Colon, Escobar).

4 yrs at $18m – take it or leave it. Probably leave it.

The question is really how much more do we have to pay John to keep him as our ace. We have 10 million of Escobar’s money going off the books. Even if we keep Vlad we will probably pay him less.

Can we keep Lackey using some of the 10 million from Escobar (plus what we already pay him). There should be the money for 20 million a year, if that is what it takes (I don’t think that anyone is going to match Sabathia’s contract anytime soon, so I would think we are closer to Burnett’s deal than Sabathia’s, maybe 18-19 will do it). Can we use some of the money we now pay Vlad to keep him and Abreu?

I would really like to keep Oliver too, as he has been solid all year, is relatively cheap, and a dependable lefty bullpen guy is hard to find.

Salmon will be awfully lonely out there if the Angels ever build there own monument park.

That’s John’s attitude, his fire. The two injuries have been minor and he’s a leader in this clubhouse. RE SIGN HIM!

Not sure he has much contract left, so it may not take a huge package. This would make Lackey expendable right away, and leave us with a hole or two to plug based on the package (Saundo, Rivera, some prospects?) which could be easily solved by re-signing figgins, Vlad, Abreu, a fifth starter, etc.

Halladay would be #1 we have been looking for. #1 Roy, #2 Weaver, #3 Kazmir, #4 Santana, #5 Doesn’t matter cuz the first four would be sick.

Until he leaves.

Then he can go screw himself.

Then I’ll get over it and wish him success.

Burnett was/is highly overpaid because the Yankees wanted to make sure they were the only ones that could afford him. Neither he nor Lackey are really worth that kind of money.

However, because that’s where the bar is set, I’d say we could match it. Lackey and Burnett are eerily similar pitchers, so I can see us paying him about the same. But, really, anything over that is ridiculous, and you let him walk.

So what if CC makes this or Burnett makes that? Those deals were as much a function of timing of competing needs as they were raw player value. The timing is different, so competing needs between teams are different and available funding within each team is different and the greater economy is different, etc.

Who has money to spend right now? Of those, who can afford to spend it right now on a front of the rotation pitcher who can give you 5-6 strong innings every outing? Of those, who can afford to do that right now above other needs? Of those, who currently represents stable ownership, strong team leadership, and a strong local market (to afford consistently filling out competitve teams, which appears to be something Lackey prefers)?

Whittle those down and you find Lackey’s community of buyers. From that comes Lackey’s offers. That those offers may not have a damned thing to do with how prior pitchers benefitted (or not) in other circumstances should not mean crapola. It will, I know, but it shouldn’t.

…because the organization didn’t think he was all that special. Many years later the team regretted it. Lackey is the closest thing the Angels currently have to an ace. Are we going to let him go to Texas, as well? I’m not saying Lackey is Nolan Ryan, but he means a heck of a lot to this organization right now.

I don’t want to see him replaced with a couple average pitchers. But, why do I sense history repeating itself?

But PLEASE do not include a “no trade” clause

He belongs here.

Hopefully he wants to come back and he’s given a fair deal.

Offer him the same as what Burnett is getting