Joel Sherman of the New York Post is reporting that the New York Mets have shown interest in former Washington Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan, and he added that the interest could be as an insurance policy if the Mets are able to trade R.A. Dickey. At this point in time, it is no secret that the Mets top target in a trade is Kansas City Royals prospect Wil Myers.
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Lannan has been on the rumor mill quite often this year, and it was a surprise that the Washington Nationals never traded him. He ended up pitching 32.2 innings with a 4.13 ERA and was worth 0.5 WAR last season. From 2008-2011, he was worth an average of about 1.2 WAR for the Nationals, so he is a classic back-of-the-rotation starter and a decent insurance policy to have.
He might not stay in the NL East, however, because the Minnesota Twins have shown a solid amount of interest in the 28-year-old southpaw. The Twins love scooping up depth guys in the rotation, and Lannan is the prime example of a player who draws a lot of interest on the free agent market as that sort of a No. 5 pitcher type. A few other teams will likely start showing more interest in Lannan, so we’ll keep an eye on the rumor mill.
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