Ben Cherington, the New Red Sox general manager, said Lackey’s pretty excited about getting the surgery done and what the future holds once he’s fully recovered from it. Cherington added that Lackey knows he had an off year in 2011 and is a lot better than he showed this season. Cherington said he’s looking forward to a new and improved pitcher when Lackey returns to the lineup in 2013.
Lewis Yocum, who’s the medical director for the Angels, is scheduled to perform the surgery on Lackey and consulted with the pitcher after getting the results of his MRI at the end of the season. Lackey had his arm checked out after he complained of soreness in it during the season. He decided it’d be a good idea to get Dr. Yocum to check it out again so they took a new MRI and compared it to the one he had done back in mid-season. The player and doctor then decided to go ahead with the surgery.
Lackey’s numbers were pretty brutal this season as he finished the year with a 12-12 won-loss record with an ERA of 6.41 ERA. He ended up pitching a total of 160 innings in 28 starts and gave up 20 home runs as well as 203 hits. To make matters worse, he also hit 19 batters, which was the Major League high for the season.
Red Sox fans weren’t too happy with him, especially after reports came out at the end of the season that linked Lackey to drinking in the clubhouse during games with a couple of other pitchers on their off days. When that story was combined with the team’s collapse in September many fans hoped they’d seen the last of him. However, Lackey still has three years left on his five-year contract though which is worth a cool $82.5 million.
After a little investigating the Red Sox found out what went wrong with Lackey this season. It appears that along with his physical woes he was also having some difficulty in his personal life. He announced in spring training that his wife had contracted breast cancer and then said his life sucked at the moment after a bad game in May.
He then received a cortisone shot for his elbow problems and it was rumored that he may have to close the book on his season and undergo the Tommy John surgery during the summer. But Lackey and the club’s top brass denied it and said he wasn’t not in any danger if he continued to pitch. Reports then surfaced late in September that he was going to divorce his wife.
If can sort himself out physically and mentally Lackey may end up being a bargain for the Red Sox in 2015 because the club has the option of signing him for the league minimum salary if he misses an extended period of time due to surgery for any type of pre-existing elbow injury.
