Rumors continue to swirl around Washington Nationals left-hander John Lannan. Yesterday, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reported that the Red Sox, Tigers and Astros are all watching Lannan. The Nationals starter, who Knobler said is likely to be dealt, has also drawn trade interest from the Mets and Padres, though his $5 million price tag is reportedly “too much for them”.
Lannan became expendable once the Nationals inked free agent right-hander Edwin Jackson. The signing bumped Lannan to the fifth spot in the Nationals starting rotation. As he’s set to earn $5 million in 2012, Lannan has become a potentially costly final starter for Washington.
Rather than keep him on their roster, the Nationals appear to be interested in dealing Lannan for prospects and using veteran Chien-Ming Wang in their rotation.
Though he’s never been spectacular, Lannan does offer teams a reliable, veteran arm for the back end of their rotation. Over his five seasons with the Nationals, Lannan has maintained an ERA of an even 4.00 to go with his 1.423 WHIP. Lannan has also been fairly durable, posting at least 31 starts and 182 innings three of the past four years.
The Red Sox have been seeking a more stable presence for the back of their rotation all offseason. While the Tigers don’t have a glaring need for starting pitching, they may want to enter the season with more of a sure thing slotted into their final rotation spot rather than a young, inexperienced pitcher. While not expecting to contend in 2012, the Astros could view this as an opportunity to add a quality arm on the cheap.
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