Reports: Phillies sign John Lannan
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Reports: Phillies sign John Lannan
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Phillies filled two holes Saturday, first with the addition of setup man Mike Adams, and then John Lannan as the fifth starter.
Lannan agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal as reported by CSNPhilly.com and CBSSports.com. The 28-year-old is the favorite to slide into the rotation spot vacated by Vance Worley. At $2.5 million, the risk is small, and Lannan could shift to the bullpen as a long man if ineffective in the rotation.
The lefthander fits the description of a "low-risk, high-reward" starter Ruben Amaro Jr. said he was seeking. Marginalized in Washington, Lannan made only six starts in 2012. He has a career ERA of 4.01 in six seasons.
He is not a strikeout pitcher (4.7 per nine innings) and has struggled with control (3.4 walks per nine innings). His career numbers mirror that of a typical fifth starter, if not better. Lannan's fastball typically averages 88-89 m.p.h. and he relies on a change-up while also throwing a curveball and slider.
The Phillies usually crushed Lannan to the tune of a 5.53 ERA in 19 career starts. But remove his pitiful numbers against the Phillies and his career ERA drops from 4.01 to 3.80. He has a 6.49 ERA in eight career starts at Citizens Bank Park.
Lannan is perhaps best known among Phillies fans for breaking Chase Utley's hand with an errant pitch in his major-league debut five years ago. Eleven of his 30 career hit batters have been Phillies.
After being hit, Utley then said he did not think Lannan was throwing at him.
"I don't think he was trying to hit me," Utley said that day. "It kinda got away from him. He's a young guy. He hit two guys in a row. I don't think he was throwing at us."
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
I cannot believe the Phils wasted $2.4 million. I will be surprised if he is even on the roster come opening day. Do the Phils even scout the players they sign?— gtnestro- Genius, what exactly is the problem with a career ERA of 4.01? Remove the starts against the Phils and it goes to 3.8? For 2.5 million this is an excellent chance for productive starts at the 5th starter spot. Should help him to be around Lee and Hamels as well... — cdedrick05
- Gt - I don' t think they wasted 2.4M that is chicken feed in today's market but you have to ask yourself do we really need three lefties in the starting rotation? Pitching is getting like our batting lineup. All lefties. — CarolinaEagle
- @'GT': Agree with 'Carolina'. The problem is the type of pitcher signed: 1)another lefthander, 2)another lefty changeup pitcher? No one on the staff pitches above 90 mph. In any series there will not be one fireballer to change the feel and pace of the ball coming to the batter. All these 87-90 mph pitchers pitching on consecutive days weakens all of them.
But Ruin is a brave and honorable man.
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- Maybe he won't end up with 3 lefties - perhaps he has moving L33 for Trumbo and another player/pitcher in mind.........
Stay tuned this isn't fully cooked.— 24sDad - Cole Hamels throws hard. I'd rather have three lefties than three rightys. Not a lot of hard throwers on the market. perhaps something can be done at the trade deadline. if these outfielders people are talking about(Upton, Stanton) are actually available, phils absolutely need to get one, whatever the price. including trading hamels.
- My main issues with Lannan is the same one I have with Kendrick, too many base runners. WHIP over 1.3 without a lot of strikeouts is a tough way to pitch in the majors. When the Phils were scoring a ton of runs this was not a big problem, now that they are scoring less runs this is a bigger issue. Cloyd has the same problem. They need to pitch to spots and keep the ball low. It is hard to pitch in the majors when you can't challenge hitters up in the zone with your fastball. — gtnestro
- Agree with gtnestro. Ruben Amaro Jr. is a 1 man wrecking crew. I can not believe how he is destroying what was once an awesome mini dynasty.
John Lannan is the poster child of Washingtons pathetic ineptness from 2008-2011. Is it a surprise that when the Nats cut players of his ilk they improved tremendously. Now this dumbbell Amaro brings Lannan here to kill our morale. KK and Lannan? Nice. Yo0u better pray Halladay is throwing batting practice again this year or the Phillies are going to be 20 games out at the all-star break. Just like last season.
What a strange road to take with the upcoming TV deal on the way. Is this organization trying to scare Phillies TV viewers and fans away?— argonne - Good pickup for the fifth starter role.— pedge
- Hey the Cards gave Wiggy a 2 year 5 mil deal so Adams and Lanan, Revere and Young as compared to what got signed last year seems exceptional to me. Wiggy and Thome and, Schneider and Qualls etc. what an improvement. Lets get an outfielder with some pop and we will be close to filling the list.
— DUDESKINS - 2.5 mil is nothing in this market, but it seems like they missed the "high reward" part of their stated goal. He gets a decent number of ground balls but basically looks like the LH version of kyle kendrick. Its a passable #5 starter, but seems to indicate the phillies are not aiming to avoid the luxury tax even if they do sign a corner OF. (Ruben did say they'd be able to go over the threshold in 2013 because they got under it in 2012 back in August, right?) Would much rather have seen a gamble on kazmir, liriano, marcum etc etc, even if it cost an extra few mil.— mjb12981
- this is actually a good signing although Brandon McCarthy for that deal he signed would have been better,....Kendrick will thrive in his new role as long relief and if Lannon struggles the two of them will switch,....there is a need for a right fielder with a good arm and a decent bat,...maybe Bourgos?? for Dom brown and a PTBNL— SyddBarrett
- angels aren't trading an outfielder for an outfielder. they have outfielders coming out of their ears. get Trumbo and give up whatever you have to get him.
- Not sure why you bother signing a guy who has struggled so much at CBP. Seems like you are not doing any better than Cloyd at that point.— ChrisSlater
- One year, 2.5m for a 27 year old with a career ERA 36 points below Blanton's? I'll take it. I liked Lannan from the start because you knew the commitment would be low the way Washington treated him.— s
