St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak is scheduled to meet with John Lackey's agent next week during the Winter Meetings in San Diego, with an eye towards reworking Lackey's 2015 contract, per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
Cardinals, Lackey could rework 2015 contract
Cardinals GM John Mozeliak and John Lackey’s agent will meet during the Winter Meetings.
Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports
This is a bit of a departure from Lackey’s previous statement that he would indeed pitch for the league minimum ($500,000) after arriving in St. Louis. Lackey is under contract for such a paltry sum thanks to the five-year, $82.5 million contract he signed with Boston in 2010, that had a clause stipulating that Lacky would pitch for the league minimum if he missed time due to surgery for a preexisting elbow injury. That exact scenario came to pass when Lackey missed all of 2012 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
There had been speculation, prior to Lackey’s confirmation upon arriving in St. Louis, that he could push to negotiate a multi-year deal that would enable him to earn more than $500,000 in 2015, while still working out to be a team friendly deal overall. It’s not clear if Lackey’s side pushed for this meeting — though it’s fair to assume so — or if Cardinals management think they can secure Lackey for additional years at a larger savings overall, than they’re receiving just in 2015 alone.
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