When RHP John Lackey signed a 5 year $82.5 million dollar contract with the Red Sox over the offseason, it was generally agreed that it was a great signing by the Sox. If Lackey stayed healthy, so they said, the Sox would have the best rotation in the league with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Lackey leading the rotation. Lackey has certainly avoided the injury bug that has hit the Sox this season, but that doesn't mean he has been good. Indeed, despite posting 9 wins Lackey sports a 4.78 ERA with 46 walks. To put that in perspective, he had 47 all of last season, and 52 in his best season in 2007, when he won 19 games. So Lackey has certainly been a disappointment; but was he ever really that great to begin with?
As I said before, his best season came in 2007 when he posted those 9 wins as well as a great 3.01 ERA. Before that, he was basically an average pitcher, averaging about 14 wins from 2004-2006. Lackey has basically built his reputation as an elite pitcher with his performances in big post season games. In Game 7 of the 2002 Angels Lackey, then with the Angels, clinched the series, holding the Giants to 1 run over 5 innings. Maybe not the prettiest of lines, but he was just a rookie. But just because you are a great postseason pitcher, doesn't mean you should be up there with the elite pitchers. And really, aside from that 2002 postseason, when he went 2-0, he really was nothing special in the postseason. Sure, his overall ERA is 3.12, and you can't necessarily control your wins in baseball, but he didn't win his third postseason game until last year. He went 0-3 from 2005-2008.
So really, John Lackey got paid ace money when he was really never an ace. Yeah, I guess he was the "ace" of the Angels when he was with them...but that's because they didn't really have anybody that great to begin with, until Jered Weaver came along, and he was developing when Lackey was with them. So when I hear people say how much Lackey is a horse, I can't help but chuckle a bit.
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