Since John Lackey bashing is all the rage, I thought I’d revisit the question of whether or not the Mets should have signed Lackey or Bay back when.
In 2 seasons with the Mets Bay is .251 18 and 104 (and a .723 OPS for you kids)
In 2 seasons with Boston Lackey has an awful 5.27 ERA but does have 26 wins (more than any Mets pitcher over the last two seasons) and 23 losses. I can’t say I have watched any of his starts but from here I wonder how many balls bang off the monster that would die in LF at Citi Field. And the NL isn’t the AL.
Maybe Lackey as the Opening Day starter and Pelfrey #2 changes some fortunes?
…and if Lackey were a Met we might all have lots to blog about today.
Anyway, stray thought. Feel free to attack the premise as stupid.
I haven’t watched many of Lackey’s starts either… last night was the first time I think I’ve seen him pitch for the Red Sox. Still, I think the extra wins are probably more of a product of the better Boston lineup than Lackey’s skill.
If anything, Lackey & Bay both show why it’s a bad idea to give a free agent contract to a “star” player leaving a big market team.
Bay is less valuable and therefore more overpaid, but Lackey’s contract would be more damaging to the Mets.
The Mets will still have an excellent offense next year, even with Bay only picking it up a little bit.
With the Mets needing to add a pitcher, probably in addition to Johan Santana, Lackey would make that virtually impossible.
You can’t really blame Lackey’s problems on the green monster…Left handed hitters have been teeing off on him for 2 seasons and his home/road splits are relatively even…He’s just been exposed going from one of the joke divisions in baseball to one of the toughest divisions in baseball…and I think that the Phils, Braves and Marlins would tee off on him just like the AL East teams do…
and for a pitcher pitching for a team like the Red Sox, Yanks or Phils; you can’t really use win/loss as a good measure since it doesn’t take much to win when your team scores 5+ runs in most of your starts…
Mets score more runs than the Phils. but I get your point.
also the ‘switch to NL’ thing isn’t really valid, because the same thing that makes the lineups easier to pitch to make it harder for your team to score.