Some links from the East – both AL and NL..
- After disappointing in the first year of his five-year, $82.5MM deal with the Red Sox, John Lackey is looking forward to putting 2010 behind him and meeting expectations, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.
- More from Bradford as Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez recognize that the paths of Jayson Werth and Mark Teixeira helped lead them to Boston.
- Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey doesn't take his new found security for granted, writes David Waldstein of the New York Times.
- After dealing Dan Uggla to the Braves this winter, the Marlins are counting on catcher John Buck to help replace some of his power, writes MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.
If Lackey has a decent season it won’t be because he pitched good, but because he had massive run support.
lackey already had a very decent season and it had nothing to do with run support
A very decent 2nd half, but not a very decent season as a whole. Or maybe, an “un-Lackey” type season lol
Aj Burnett
Right, if you only measure a decent season by wins and not you know the real stats for a pitcher….
To be entirely fair, Lackey had a decent season win-wise last year too. Ironically, he posted a better win percentage in the first half (With his absolutely garbage overall numbers) than in the second half (When everything else improved dramatically).
Agreed. It’s not like he fell off the planet!!!
I’ve watched him for years. His numbers are falling off and he’s due for some injury. It always happens. I wasn’t talking about wins. But check his K/9 and BB/9. Heading the wrong way. You’ll see. Sox fans will be pissing and moaning all summer long.
His Babip was above .315 for just the second time in his career and his strand rate was below 70% also for the second time in his career, which means he was at least marginally unlucky. As you said his K/9 was down and his BB/9 was up, but one years does not a trend make; the year before last both of those stats were right in-line with his career averages.
He’s due for some injury? Unless that is some sort of threat I don’t see how that is a reasonable part of the argument, or is being “due for some injury” a skill now?
A-Rod is due for an injury before Lackey, just saying.
Lackey started ’08 AND ’09 on the DL. Even going by law of averages, he’s not really due for injury.
As for his numbers, his first half last year was awful, but his second half was right in line with his career numbers and is more indicative of an adjustment period to pitching in a stronger division than a pronounced decline.
30 wins and a 6.5 ERA is not a decent season.
LOL @ John Buck. Just another product of Toronto.
I like how he said that he doesn’t think about how many HR’s he’s gonna hit, then declares that they lost 30+ from Uggla, but gained 20 and 10 from himself and Infante….lol
But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Buck hit 20 again. He’s not gonna provide anything in the on-base department, but he hit 18 with the Royals a few years back in 347 AB’s, so his power is real. It’s just that he doesn’t make a whole lot of solid contact. So I expect something like a .250, .300, .435 line with 15-17 HR as long as he can get into 100-115 games.
Lots of people sleeping on the Marlins, and I guess it’s understandable with the Phillies and Braves in the division. But their rotation is very solid, but a lot has to go right. Sanchez has to stay healthy again, Vazquez has to have some sort of rebound, and Nolasco needs to stop throwing so many strikes. His peripherals are excellent, he’s just too hittable because he rarely misses the strike zone.
Their offense has a lot of potential. Stanton is probably the strongest player in the game already. Morrison has all the tools for success. Sanchez is solid. Hanley is at worst the 2nd-best SS in the game. Coghlan has a nice skillset at the top of the order, just needs to stay consistent. He’s going to suck in CF though. Buck isn’t the best hitter in the world, but he’s going to give them above-average production at the catchers position……something they haven’t had in a while. Losing Uggla will hurt, and I’d be shocked to see Infante repeat his 2010 performance.
The pen, which was what killed them the most last year, has been improved. Not sure how much, as it’s a very young bullpen. Can’t possibly be worse than last years though…
Having said that, they better hope their core players continue to progress(Stanton, Morrison, Sanchez, Hanley, Johnson, Nolasco) because they may have the worst farm system in baseball right now. Not that they’re not good with scouting, their one of the best. It’s just all of their top guys have been promoted to the bigs over the past 2, 3 years. They’re gonna have to restock it somehow and continue to do well in drafts and international scouting. If these guys do pan out and payroll continues to rise, they could be dangerous for 6 or 7 years. A LOT has to go their way though….
And yes, I hate the Marlins.
Thank you Texiera and Werth. Glad Tex snubbed us.
Why are you glad Tex snubbed the Nationals and why are you thanking Jayson Werth after your teams GM handed him 7 guaranteed years and at least $126 million?
Unless the ‘dc’ in your name has nothing to do with the Nationals and that you’re a Red Sox fan…..If so, disregard the first paragraph. I’ve been drinking for a few hours after having a big dispute with Carlos Silva earlier.
“Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez recognize that the paths of Jayson Werth and Mark Teixeira helped lead them to Boston.”
He’s a Boston fan.
WOWWWWWW LMFAO. Good job reading the article.
Me too. Tex > A Gon
not since 2008 (before the yanks signed him)
I seriously doubt any Gm would take Tex over AGonz!
Tex didn’t snub you, the Red Sox were told he would sign with them but they would have to match the offer that was made at 180 million, the Red Sox called the Orioles who probably said something like “we didn’t say 180, we said 160, didn’t you guys say 170? yeah that out bid us” and went back to Boras and said no one is bidding 170, we are staying at 170 so whoever bid 180 can have him, and the next day he was a Yankee.
Gonzalez played in a WEAK lineup in SD in one of the biggest pitchers parks in the game. Now he’s playing in a small Fenway in the middle of a pretty formidable lineup.
lackey is still pitching? ha,ha!!!!
better than league average? ha,ha!!!!
damn, I didn’t know idiots could graduate from Stanford. Maybe I should’ve applied there.
as always, love ya disqus.
There are some really oblivious New York fans on this forum.
It is pretty funny reading all the of the Red Sox/yankees arguments. Both sides are able to vastly overstate every single one of their players/prospects while giving little to no credit to the oppositions.
As a Braves fan I am giving the nod to the Red Sox. Their offenses will put up similar numbers, the SP for the Red Sox is better, and I like the Yankees BP better. SP > BP imo so it is the Red Sox for me.
and before you argue divide 56 by 162. it is 0.346 and then divide 1 by 3. Which number is greater (bigger)..huh?
you have to admit sox fans arent making themselves look bad! we so far have been very reasonable and polite considering what has been said!
i can’t stop laughing at the internet tough guys who still use 2nd grade stats as the end all 🙂
not to say BA/Hr/rbi aren’t important, if they weren’t they wouldn’t be tracked, but they are far far from the end all.
Tanzilonia is giving us Ivy leaguers a bad name…….
Stanford Grad phht….
Tanzilonia: Do u think ur smarter than me?
Average Sox fan: You mean starter than I?
At age 32, Lackey’s is coming out of his prime. No reason to think last year was a fluke.
’08 and ’09 were in-line with his career averages; no reason to think last year wasn’t a fluke. One year is not a trend.
Regardless- if 4.0 WAR is the “new/declining” Lackey, count me as a content Sox fan.
Awwwwww. Reading all these comments they seem so funny I would’ve loved to see what Tanzilonia said. I could’ve used the laugh, but I came late.
Uhh, I’m mad I missed all of this on what he was saying. I’m sure it was something Pro-Yankee Anti-Red Sox correct? lol
It started off when he was comparing the Red Sox line-up to the Yankees, and when someone called his opinions biased, he immediately went to “don’t you know who I am!? I’m a Stantford graduate! GGGGGGGGRRRAAEAAAGAGHJKGJKHJGA!!”
He also typed as if he was 12. Pretty much the jist of it hehe.
R.A. Dickey.
That is all.