John Lackey: Long Memory, High ERA and Another Haircut
By Nick Shepkowski: @Shep670
It's one thing to be bad. It's entirely another to be an @______.
That's what I'm left thinking after John Lackey again got hit around, and out of the Citi Field Monday night.
A Cubs team that has been struggling of late didn't do themselves any favors offensively as they put up just 2 runs in Queens, NY, but yet again it was the veteran starter getting hit hard for the duration.
Lackey allowed 8 baserunners in 5 innings pitched against the Mets Monday, but more concerning was the fact that 3 of those 8 were by way of long ball. That brings Lackey's total to 19 home runs allowed on the year, fewer than only 40 year old Bronson Arroyo, who has actually done that despite no-longer having an attached right arm.
I get it, Lackey is 38 and has seemingly little, if anything left in the tank. He supplied the Cubs with a solid year in 2016 as the fourth starter and despite playoffs struggles, ate nearly 190 innings on the mound with an ERA of just 3.35.
But that's changed this year as his ERA has soared to 5.26 while giving up hard hits at the highest rate of his career. To boot the right hander has given up his highest fly-ball rate in 11 years.
Add it all up and really hard hit fly balls are a bad things, and exactly how you get those 19 allowed home runs and an ERA north of 5 this season.
To me it's understandable that Lackey's numbers are on the hard decline as the man has thrown over 2740 regular season innings in his career.
But even as competitive as one can be, I don't understand why Lackey has to act like such a child in his old age.
Yeah, be upset about a loss or a bad performance, that's fine.
But to say that "Joe (Maddon) doesn't have much to do with the pitching, I don't know what he's talking about" after Maddon suggested a change of approach for the struggling Lackey, it comes off moronic and selfish.
Nobody will ever say it in the Cubs clubhouse, at least on the record but do you really think his infielders enjoy getting screamed at whenever they come up short in making seemingly every play on every ball hit on the ground off Lackey?
Because of his lack(ey) of production, you can't help but admit his act has worn old.
Undoubtedly, John Lackey added value to the 2016 Cubs. In the innings he ate, a solid ERA, thewell-documented help he provided Jon Lester that year and a sense of attitude the young squad hadn't had all speak to that.
Heck, his quotes about only wanting jewelry, not a haircut, and telling us about his long memory further helped endear the former-rival to Cubs fans a season ago.
But after a disastrous first couple months of 2017 and an attitude showing why he's been chased out of multiple organizations before, I can't help but wonder how much longer the John Lackey Era will remain on Chicago's North Side.
Then again, with no simple choice to plug in to his rotation spot for the time being, the answer to that thought is probably significantly longer than any Cubs fan would like.
Even if it means more haircuts for the guy that didn't come here for any.
That's what I'm left thinking after John Lackey again got hit around, and out of the Citi Field Monday night.
A Cubs team that has been struggling of late didn't do themselves any favors offensively as they put up just 2 runs in Queens, NY, but yet again it was the veteran starter getting hit hard for the duration.
Lackey allowed 8 baserunners in 5 innings pitched against the Mets Monday, but more concerning was the fact that 3 of those 8 were by way of long ball. That brings Lackey's total to 19 home runs allowed on the year, fewer than only 40 year old Bronson Arroyo, who has actually done that despite no-longer having an attached right arm.
I get it, Lackey is 38 and has seemingly little, if anything left in the tank. He supplied the Cubs with a solid year in 2016 as the fourth starter and despite playoffs struggles, ate nearly 190 innings on the mound with an ERA of just 3.35.
But that's changed this year as his ERA has soared to 5.26 while giving up hard hits at the highest rate of his career. To boot the right hander has given up his highest fly-ball rate in 11 years.
Add it all up and really hard hit fly balls are a bad things, and exactly how you get those 19 allowed home runs and an ERA north of 5 this season.
To me it's understandable that Lackey's numbers are on the hard decline as the man has thrown over 2740 regular season innings in his career.
But even as competitive as one can be, I don't understand why Lackey has to act like such a child in his old age.
Yeah, be upset about a loss or a bad performance, that's fine.
But to say that "Joe (Maddon) doesn't have much to do with the pitching, I don't know what he's talking about" after Maddon suggested a change of approach for the struggling Lackey, it comes off moronic and selfish.
Nobody will ever say it in the Cubs clubhouse, at least on the record but do you really think his infielders enjoy getting screamed at whenever they come up short in making seemingly every play on every ball hit on the ground off Lackey?
Because of his lack(ey) of production, you can't help but admit his act has worn old.
Undoubtedly, John Lackey added value to the 2016 Cubs. In the innings he ate, a solid ERA, thewell-documented help he provided Jon Lester that year and a sense of attitude the young squad hadn't had all speak to that.
Heck, his quotes about only wanting jewelry, not a haircut, and telling us about his long memory further helped endear the former-rival to Cubs fans a season ago.
But after a disastrous first couple months of 2017 and an attitude showing why he's been chased out of multiple organizations before, I can't help but wonder how much longer the John Lackey Era will remain on Chicago's North Side.
Then again, with no simple choice to plug in to his rotation spot for the time being, the answer to that thought is probably significantly longer than any Cubs fan would like.
Even if it means more haircuts for the guy that didn't come here for any.
Of his 13 starts, he's only had two where he didn't give up a HR. And in six of them he's given up multiple HR's.
ReplyDeletePlus, of his 13 starts, he only has 3 where he acutally had a positive win % added. So he's actively harming the team in 77% of his starts.
Time to hang em' up, John.