John Lackey has been with the Angels since 2002, when he helped them win the World Series. He has been the heart and soul of their pitching staff for eight seasons. Now he may have thrown his last pitch for Los Angeles/Anaheim/California. Is it possible that his performance for the Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS just earned him a contract for the 2010 Mets?
The Mets need a proven #2 starter to follow Johan Santana in the rotation. Mike Pelfrey and his 5.00-plus ERA just isn’t cutting it. Lackey’s consistency and bulldog mentality would form a great lefty-righty tandem with Santana.
Let’s see just how consistent Lackey has been over his career. He started out slowly for the Angels from 2002-2004. Over his first three seasons, Lackey was just a .500 pitcher, going 33-33 with a 4.44 ERA. However, as he gained experience, he also became one of the best pitchers in baseball. Witness his 2005-2009 seasons:
- 2005: 14-5, 3.44 ERA
- 2006: 13-11, 3.56 ERA
- 2007: 19-9, 3.01 ERA
- 2008: 12-5, 3.75 ERA
- 2009: 11-8, 3.83 ERA
That’s five consecutive seasons facing a DH in every game (other than interleague games in National League parks) with ERAs under 4.00. His 3.01 ERA in 2007 led the American League. He is also one of only six pitchers in baseball to win at least 11 games in each of the last six seasons, with the other five being potential teammate Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Jason Marquis.
For the five-year stretch mentioned above, Lackey is a combined 69-38 with a 3.49 ERA. He has also walked only 282 batters in 150 starts made over those five years, an average of less than two walks per start.
The Mets struggled with their control all year in 2009. Lackey’s impeccable control would surely help the pitching staff. He walked 52 batters or less in each of the past three seasons. Compare that to the 58 walks surrendered by Oliver Perez in only 14 starts this season.
In addition to his excellent work in the regular season, Lackey has plenty of playoff experience, making 12 starts over five different postseasons. His ERA in those 12 starts is 3.12, which is even better than his regular season ERA. Also, opposing hitters have only hit 4 HR off Lackey in 78 career postseason innings.
Lackey has proven that he can step up his game when his team needs it the most, unlike certain members of the current Mets staff. When the Angels needed him in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series, he was the winning pitcher as a rookie. With their backs against the wall in Game 5 of this year’s ALCS, Lackey pitched beautifully, giving up three runs in 6.2 innings, although those runs did not score while he was in the game (no thanks to former Met Darren Oliver). He wants the ball at all times and is not afraid to speak his mind when he feels that he’s still the best option to get a hitter out (as seen by his “this game is mine” comment that lip readers could recognize when Mike Scioscia removed him from Game 5 against the Yankees).
Who wouldn’t want him on the Mets? Probably the people whose names would appear on the bottom of his paycheck. Lackey will not come cheap. More than likely, it will take at least five years and an average annual value of $16-$18 million to sign him. He has definitely earned those dollars with his consistency over the past five years. However, if Lackey agrees to a five-year deal, he would be almost 36 when the contract expires in 2014. $18 million might be a lot to give to a pitcher on the statistical downside of his career.
As with all pitchers, the Mets must be careful not to overpay for a pitcher who might give them great performances over the first part of the contract, followed by a dropoff afterwards (see Pedro Martinez). However, Lackey might give them a good reason to make an exception. After all, he began both the 2008 and 2009 seasons on the disabled list but came back both times to pitch as well as he did before each injury occurred.
If Lackey doesn’t re-sign with Los Angeles/Anaheim/California/Disneyland/Wallyworld, then the Wilpons should open up their wallets to bring him to Citi Field. The Mets haven’t had a potential dominant 1-2 punch since…heck, I have no idea! That’s how long it’s been.
If the power outage suffered by the Mets in 2009 continues in 2010, then they will have to outpitch their opponents. Having Santana and Lackey on the mound for 40% of their games will surely help them improve from their dismal 2009 season. Let’s get it done and make John Lackey a Met in 2010!
In a pitchers friendly park, and w/o a DH Lackey’s numbers could get better, but again with the Mets luck they could get worse
I think if the Mets get a solid no. 2 starter like john lackey, and got a Matt Holliday or Jason Bay they could at least be a team that can attain 80-84 wins next season. Some of the issues this team has though cannot be fixed in one off-season
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
JIM, I JUST FINISHED READING THE TRANSCRIPT OF BREWER ASS’T GM GORDAN ASH’S FAN Q & A OFF THEIR WEBSITE WHEREBY HE REITERATES GM MELVIN’S DENIAL FIELDER’S ON THE MARKET. I DON’T BELIEVE THAT FOR A MOMENT; BUT SEE IT AS A WAY TO RAISE DEMANDED PRICE. FIELDER’S CONTRACTUAL STATUS IS INTERESTING IN AS MUCH AS HE’S SIGNED FOR 2010 @ 10.5M; BUT NOT 2011 WHEN WITH ONLY 4.068 YRS OF SVC DOES NOT GRANT HIM F/A; BUT RATHER ARBITRATION. WITH BORAS AS HIS AGENT WHO THINKS THE BREWS WON’T CONSIDER ARBITRATION THE SAME WAY AS F/A. CAN’T U JUST SEE THE LIBRARY OF STATS, GRAFFS & COMPARATIVE CONTRACTS BORAS WILL CARRY IN “LEATHER BOUND” VOLUMES? MRLVIN ALSO STATED HIS MISSION WAS TO ADD 2 “ESTABLISHED” ROTATION ARMS THIS OFFSEASON WITH A WILLINGNESS TO DEAL HIS BEST PROSPECT TO DO SO. OK, WHO HAS AFFORDABLE PROVEN ROTATION ARMS TO DEAL? I WOULD SAY THE METS ARE CERTAINLY AWASH IN 3,4,5 EXP SPs IN PEREZ,PELFREY,MAINE,NIESE,NIEVE,MISCH AND A COMPETITIVE PKG CAN BE PUT TOGETHER WITH 2 OF THEM AS A NUCLEUS ESP CONSIDERING RICK PETERSON IS THEIR NEW PITCHING COACH. PERHAPS A PELFREY,MAINE,MURPHY PKG & THEY KEEP THEIR PROSPECT. ANOTHER CONSIDERATION FOR BREWS IS THEIR BEST ’09 SP, LOOPER HAS A 6M CLUB OPTION HE HAS RIGHT OF REFUSAL ON.
ATLANTA’S DEALING A SP; BUT ALL OF THEIRS EARN MORE THAN FIELDER’S 10.5 & ATL IS LOOKING TO CUTBACK TO AFFORD HUDDY. A + FOR ATL; BUT NOT BREWS.
IF PELF IS DEALT THEY INK LACKEY FOR #2 & MARQUIS FOR #3 PELFREY REPLACEMENT. THUS THEY’D HAVE HALF OF THOSE SIX STALWART SP IN THEIR ROTATION. I BELIEVE THAT FIXES MOST OF WHAT AILS US ADD A HOUSEKEEPING INKING OF MOLINA & VOILA! READY FOR WAR! WITH MOSTLY NO PAYROLL INCREASE
Are you done with your Fielder man crush.They are not going to block Davis at first.If they were looking at Fielder ,Ike would be learning to play the outfield.Or they would package Ike in a trade for Fielder.
Fielder is not coming here.
Well, if u want Lackey and/or Holliday that is fine, but I want a solid 300, gold glove guy like Nick Johnson at 1b. Sorry guys, I still live in the Keith Hernandez/Gary Carter days, the good times. John Olerud was good to in 99, enough of the Delgado and Mo Vaughn types that look like Price Fielder.
Who knows if this guy even wants to play in New York. Some people dont like it here , while other cant take the pressure. I think he signs with the Dodgers and has some sort of major surgery around year two of the contract. I do think the Mets need to totally rework the rotation from 2-5 but I just dont like signing 31-32 year old “workhorse” pitches to long deals.
I think Lackey proved last night that he can take the pressure.
I have read Lackey wants to pitch in Texas either for the Rangers or the Astros.
Amazingly, Mets fans can find reason not to go after Lackey. Money talks bs walks, the Mets should be all over him.
I did like how Lackey showed alot of fight, with disagreement with poor umpiring and trying to finish it out on the mound. That kind of grit is sorely lacking on our squad. However, I think the bidding will get steep and the bidders will be numerous for Lackey. I don’t disagree with you that having him in our rotation would be great though, his age worries me some. I still think Halladay might be the better long term target.
Ace i totally agree with you Halladay is the better option.Halladay is better than Santana by the end of April every Met fan would see that.
Five consecutive seasons of success is all I need to know. Lackey would be perfect in our rotation. His age doesnt scare me at all.
[...] Leyro of Mets Merized Online asks, “Did Lackey just pitch his way on to the [...]
I like Lackey. I hear he wants to go back to Texas. He is a tough guy and I would like to have him (without overpaying), but we are not winning with this group. They have failed 4 straight years. I am not in favor of spending real money until we have a real GM. That is basically my opinion in a nutshell. Sign a pitcher long term when you have something that you can believe in. Same with a catcher or an outfielder, although they are easier to come by. You only OVERpay when you believe you are in sniffing distance of something.
I just don’t see the Mets getting him given his statements and such. But hey, if the Mets give him the contract he wants, who knows?
My problem is, but the Yankees AND the Mets have created ridiculous contract standards for pitchers. Burnett money? Heck, if anything you can be a career losing pitcher with an era of 4.50 and get 12-million.
He Lackey’s nothing, but the Mets surely do. Let’s go after him in a big way.
Scioscia was a moron for lifting him when he did.
When I heard the comment on FOX about the comparison to Burnett’s contract, that’s when I figured Lackey would probably seek $16-$18 million annually. That Burnett contract (along with Barry Zito’s) is going to hurt the Mets’ chances of getting Lackey for anything less than the average annual value of Burnett’s deal (approx. $16 million annually), especially since Lackey has been far more consistent than Burnett over his career.
I agree with you Ed. If the Mets want to win, they clearly have to outpitch their opponents as you said. We just built a one billion dollar pitchers park, and the Mets saw fit to fill the rotation with Johan and a host of number five starters.
Looks like Lackey won’t be pitching anymore this season. Although I’ve read various reports saying that the Mets are going to focus more on a power-hitting leftfielder than another starter, I’m hoping they can get both. But I wish they would focus more on the starter (Lackey) than the outfielder.