Wednesday night's Red Sox-Rays game was rained out, and with it John Lackey's third scheduled start. Instead of rescheduling Lackey for the Red Sox' next game, tomorrow night against the Blue Jays, the Sox are skipping Lackey this time around. Scott Lauber (via the Boston Herald):
Will John Lackey Get It Together?
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That may be exactly what Lackey needs. Through two starts, he owns an unsightly 15.58 ERA. He allowed nine runs on 10 hits in 32⁄3 innings April 2 in Texas, then gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings of last Friday's home opener against the New York Yankees.
Lackey’s 15.58 ERA really isn’t a big red flag, assuming of course that he’s healthy. There was a medium red flag last season, though.
From 2005 through 2009, Lackey struck out three times as many hitters as he walked; he did almost exactly the same in 2009 alone, his last season with the Angels. With the exception of some minor injury issues in 2008 and '9, and one season in which he gave up a few more home runs than usual, Lackey was highly consistent. He seemed to be as safe a bet as you could have found. Which is why the Red Sox invested $82.5 million in five seasons of Lackey's talents.
So what happened in 2010, his first with Boston? Lackey’s walks went up, his strikeouts down. He was throwing the same pitches as before, and throwing just as hard as before. They just weren’t as effective. And his performance last season doesn’t seem to be connected to facing tougher competition; Lackey actually faced better hitters in the previous few seasons, when pitching for the Angels.
It’s a baseball mystery. What’s not a mystery is the amount of money the Red Sox still owe Lackey: $60 million.
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