With all the hype about the Red Sox free agent signings for 2011 I thought yesterday about 2010 & John Lackey. The Red Sox still have a lot of years & a lot of money tied up in him. Can he adjust to life in the AL East & become a #2 or #3 starter?
Lucky for Lackey, Jon Lester & Clay Buchholz can pitch like #1 starters for any other team in the league. If Lackey can get on the bandwagon with control & stops whining after a loss, he & Beckett & Dice-K can give the Sox the best rotation in the majors.
I saw part of the problem in 2010 being Terry Fancona's lack of a dependable bullpen. There were at least a handful of games where Lackey should have come out after 5, 6 or 7 innings. But Tito left him in, trying to get one more inning out of him before going to the pen. With a better bullpen this year Tito won't have to stretch Lackey out so much in his starts. Same with Beckett & Dice-K.
If Lackey can pitch 150 to 160 innings with 15 wins & less than 10 losses, I'd take that.
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