Lackey’s lackluster market
November 23, 2009, 7:00 pm by iYankees · 2 Comments
From ESPN, we learn that an “MLB executive” told “1050 ESPN New York’s Andrew Marchand that the top pitching free agent on the market, John Lackey, could be “lucky” to get A.J. Burnett money” this winter, as there aren’t many buyers for Lackey’s services. Essentially, a lack of demand may make it difficult for him to receive a deal comparable to Burnett’s 5-year, $82.5M pact with the Yankees.
I’m not sure if I would agree with the “executive” here. Last offseason, the only teams that appeared to be serious suitors for Burnett were the Braves and the Yankees, and he was awarded with a big-money deal. If anything, I would argue that Lackey is receiving more interest this offseason, with the Mariners, Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, and Nationals all rumored to be in the mix (we haven’t heard much from the Angels, but I assume they’re in it, too).
The biggest problem, though, for Lackey, is the Burnett baseline which he and his representation are allegedly employing for contract negotiations. As I’ve stated before, after completing his best season in 2008, Burnett was ultimately overpaid by Brian Cashman and the starter-less Yankees. Thus, Lackey’s perceived baseline for a contract is based on an inflated deal, signed after a career year, and tendered by a desperate yet resource-rich ball club. This pushes his annual asking price closer to $20 million, a number which most teams will be hesitant to broach.
Therefore, unlike the “executive,” I can see Lackey receiving Burnett money this season, however, I can’t see him receiving anything above and beyond that.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Burnett’s contract comes out to 15.5 million per year and I think a lot of why the Yankees were willing to pay him that over the other choices available like Lowe is the fact that Burnett though erratic has strikeout, dominate no-hit stuff and comes into almost every game with one of the best curves in the game therefor I don’t think Lackey is worth the same contract given the similar age buck lack of electric stuff, true he has better command and has a lot of heart but we already have Burnett and we don’t need another over paid 30+ year old, injury plagued pitcher in the rotation… Burnett (injury), Pettitte (injury, age), Hughes (Stuff, mental abiltity of a starter) and Joba (velocity, Reliever? Starter?) all have concerns of some sort going into the season if we add another starter with injury concerns and lack of recent 200+ IP seasons I say we do it from the bargain bin and go after Ben Sheets or someone if that nature… At Ben’s most expensive he is what? 10 million if he meets a ton of incentives for 1 year (if he gets that kind of incentives he was more than worth the money) as opposed to 85+ million dollars for 5-6 years for what is effectively another injury concern pitcher with a very similar repertoire.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1
I would also say that when Sheets is actually Sheets (and not the injured form of himself) he has better overall stuff than Lackey does… Lackey has a good curve and a good 2-seam fastball but it tends to sit 90-93 and touches 94 with Sheets you get a very good curve and a 4-seam fastball in the mid 90’s. Lackey is coming off of back to back seasons of less than 28 starts (2009-27, 2008-24) it’s tough to commit that much money to yet another guy who’s arm could fall off from year to year.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1