John Lannan has told Nationals GM Mike Rizzo that he would like to be traded according to an email he sent to the media, including Amanda Comak of The Washington Times (Twitter link). The left-hander was recently optioned to Triple-A despite his $5MM salary.
"I believe that I belong in a big league rotation," said Lannan in an email according to Comak (on Twitter). The club's fifth starter job went to Ross Detwiler in the wake of Chien-Ming Wang's hamstring injury. A number of teams expressed interest in acquiring Lannan last month, but Rizzo held on to him while insisting for fair value in return. The Nationals are under no obligation to satisfy his request.
not a lannan fan and i don’t blame the nationals for optioning him, but i also don’t blame him at all for requesting a trade. 750 innings into your MLB career and coming off of a passable season, getting sent to the minors has to be pretty upsetting
Lannan became a victim of circumstance. You can’t send down Gonzalez, Jackson, Strasburg, and Zimmerman. Detwiler, with a good spring and no options has to get the last spot (useless in bullpen). Detwiler has more upside than Lannan, and there is no way he would clear waivers so they figured to try to trade Lannan before the start of the season. I think the only problem is that the Nationals were asking too much for Lannan, and therefore sent him to the minors because he has options remaining and Detwiler doesn’t. Plus, you need to look at it from the Nats view. They can retain a pretty good pitcher if no one meets their asking price.
I would be upset too after being named a starter a week before. I wish Nationals had handled the situation differently.
The Red Sox have probably already made a call to the Nats
The Rockies need to JUMP on this guy. They have a BIG hole with a nearly 50 year old Moyer making their starting 5 and a iffy De La Rosa maybe not coming back until June/July if at all.
You touch on a good point. How does Jamie Moyer have a spot in a rotation, but John Lannan does not. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Yeah, you know your rotation has holes when a guy half a century old gets a starting spot. The Rockies should be picking up the phone as I speak. They have plenty to offer in return as well. Eric Young Jr. should be up for grabs.
I’m assuming you’re a Rockies fan. Do you guys have any shortstops or catchers that could be traded? We (Rays) have the pitching depth to possibly make something work
Andrew Friedman at work!
Don’t they have Pomeranz, White, Outman, and Moscoso in AAA? Two high upside prospects and two serviceable MLB starters.
This guy could be a perfect fit for oakland especially since braden’s setback. Oakland will need a “seriviceable” 4/5 starter after april 16th when they go back to a 5-man rotation
plus there are two types of pitchers the a’s seem to really like this year: hard throwing short righties and soft tossing lefties, lannan seems to fit the mold
Outman are Moscoso are ONLY “serviceable MLB starters” over there in that run-suppressing cavern with no crowd to put pressure on you.
Still think he would help Boston’s rotation as a 4 or 5.
This whole situation just sucks. They had to know this would happen. I’m bummed for him and hope he gets his trade.
But, Detwiler deserves that spot.
I feel for Lannan. I have no issue w/ him wanting a trade. HOwever, I think he has more value to the Nats than what they will get for him
Good!! Bye John, hope we never have to face you ever again!!
Seriously! I do hope the Nationals don’t do Lannan as we did Kawakami. I still have a bad taste in my mouth after the FO messed that situation up.
Lannan just needs to shut up. He didn’t produce and got what he deserved.
“Didn’t produce”? Sub-4 ERA, proven to be out there every 5th day, etc. He’s an easy 3 or 4 in a lesser rotation. An ace if he went to the O’s 🙂
to be fair, a rotting corpse could be the O’s ace
..touche..
i.e. Daniel Cabrera.
Mike Rizzo after releasing Cabrera in 2009: “I was tired of watching him pitch” LOL
So were the rest of us. 🙂
Cool you can have kevin gregg for him. Lannon would get lit up in the AL East.
Throw in Adam Jones and its a deal! 😉
Throw in Jordan Zimmermen and we will talk 🙂
What to you would have been producing? An ERA of 3.77 last year and a career of 4 is pretty good for a #4 or #5 starter, on a good team that would be a 12-14 game winner. I am not trying to sound mean I would just like to know what you and others think Lannan should have done better to stay in the majors.
A FIP closer to his ERA would be nice. Higher strikeout rates would be a bonus.
On the Yankees it would be a 17 game winner. (See Johnson, Randy)
The BoSox need to make a trade for this dude NOW.
The Sox traded their starting shortstop for a bag of balls. You think we are actually going to take on $5 million in payroll for a starting pitcher? We already have… um, hold on a sec… it’ll come to me… nevermind.
What a surprise
sending him down isnt gonna help his trade value Rizzo..
But it will probably help the team win? What matters more?
Letting him play and then trading him for prospects would have been better for the team.
They’re probably going to call up Wang once he recovers and let him take that 5th spot anyway.
At this point, his value isn’t too high since he posted a 5+ ERA this Spring. Giving him a rotation spot might have shown better numbers and could have been used as a showcase to teams.
Now, there is more of an urgency to get rid of him. (while before, they could have had another month or so)
Teams might consider the Nats desperate and bid lower offers.
I don’t think there is necessarily urgency. Like the post says, the nats have no obligation to comply with Lannan and i don’t think they will. If they trade him and one of the other starters gets hurt (which is more than likely), then we don’t have very good options to replace strasburg when he reaches his limit.
And Lannan is a good replacement? Even though he was beaten by Detwiler this Spring? Surely they have some decent options in the minors. (Tom Gorzelanny? I think he’s being used in relief but he has started before)
Yes, they don’t have to comply to Lannan’s wishes but you’d have to imagine that this will definitely create some unnecessary drama for the team. Who knows how this will impact the team in trade talks and John Lannan’s performance from here on out.
Also, it makes more sense to get rid of him now than to keep his 5 mil salary. The longer he stays, the more the Nats have to pay him. The best thing for the team long term (and probably short term) is to trade him now for salary relief and/or prospects.
you act like he is a terrible pitcher that holds them back..
Not at all, i am actually a fan of Lannan. I definitely believe he is more than a capable MLB pitcher, and his stats back that up. I just believe that Detwiller is the better option for the Nats. Also, i don’t think Lannan is the relief type, i don’t know though, the Nats didn’t really try him out in that role at all.
i mean i get that detwiller has more upside but at the same time lannan would not hold the team back from winning. to be honest i somewhat wish the braves would get him for the right price.. he is a fantastic guy in the 5th spot
I agree he would not at all. And that would be interesting, in think Lannan might hold a grudge against the Nats and pitch lights out vs. them every time.
not to mention he would be a huge upgrade over livan and chad durbin
Bobby Abreu was last seen today boarding an east-bound flight at LAX.
Dead on Commander. DiPoto will jump on that.
Yep. The Angels would probably be willing to pay all of Bobby’s salary as long as the Nats picked up all of John’s
Why would the Nationals ever want Abreu
if the angels were to take werth
we not that upset with Werth yet.
Can we just trade 50 million of werth’s salary instead of the player?
that works for me.
All we need is for you to send us Strasburg and Harper. Done. Deal.
Maybe not as upset as you should be.
I am upset with Rizzo for offering that deal, but I understand he had to overpay to get the first big FA in DC so people can start taking us seriously. The deal has six years left on it, I have plenty of time to change my opinion of Werth.
Sheesh, Werth and Wells in the same outfield? Might as well cut both and play Bourjos and Trout, once healthy
Ryan Sweeney for John Lannan?
haha im sorry but this whole thing is kinda funny. Never was a Lannan fan though, but he is solid. He should net SOMETHING of decent value back, at least i hope
Blue Jays should make a run at him. Better then some of the pitchers they have right now and is added MLB ready depth too
Going to the Giants? …to fill in the back-end of the rotation. Well, maybe not the back-end, that spot is for Zito.
I like the idea but I just don’t see it happening. Really, the Giants need to grow a pair and cut their losses with Zito. Yes, they look stupid for signing him to that deal. Yes, they’d look stupid if they were to cut him and eat the remainder of his deal. But they look even stupider continuing to roll him out there every fifth day with his continuously reinvented mechanics, only to get shelled again and again, and eventually end up being hidden on the DL with “ghost” ailments. If players like Lannan are available at a reasonable rate, kick the tires and see what you can make happen.
didnt they also just bite the bullet on rowands contract? then add zitos, a lot to cut and a lot to look foolish about
Better to pay money and throw the dead weight overboard, than pay money and let it sink the ship.
Agreed, that’s a pretty big “my bad.” But as I see it, the Giants will pay Zito $47M over the next two seasons whether he goes 8-22 with a 5.45 ERA or sits on the beach singing lullabies to Eric Byrnes. On a team that looks to be a contender, I’d rather push deep into the playoffs with a solid fifth starter and Zito watching it from his couch than to simply save (albeit) limited face by keeping him on the roster. It looks even more ridiculous to have him mysteriously wind up on the DL or worse, have a $20M mop up long reliever in the pen.
Bad luck for Lannan-he loses a numbers game. But hard to see how this maximizes his trade value.
Be a good fit with the Cardinals. He still has good stuff he is a lefty. Cardinals need someone to fill in the Rotation for Carp for half the year. I like Lance Lynn but he is not Carpenter.
I dont really understand the hate on Lannan, he isnt that bad he has been a reliable arm with solid numbers over his career. glad he wants the trade
So….Jamie Moyer doesn’t deserve a rotation spot? But the 3 people in the rotation that start after him do? He won the spot. He is the number 2 starter. If anyone doesn’t deserve the spot its it’s all the other pitchers who let a 49 year old out pitch them.
Has he been any good or have they just stunk? I haven’t followed it.
He’s the #2 starter because the Rockies want to mix a soft tosser between the harder throwing arms at #1 and #3. Realistically, he’s a #4 or #5 on most rotations that don’t call Baltimore their home.
yeah moyer deserves a spot but lannan is not a AAA pitcher he deserves to be on a MLB roster his numbers have never really been “bad”. didnt know i really said anything about moyer though..
John, it doesn’t work that way. A team has to want to trade for you first.
Can somebody explain why Lannan thought it was a good idea to e-mail the media about the trade request? Wouldn’t a professional just keep quiet about this sort of thing?
I think intangibles are incredibly overrated, but teams will label Lannan as a bit of a malcontent over this.
Jason Bartlett for John Lannan. Bartlett makes 500,000 more, but could be a useful bench player and backup shortstop.
If the Padres ate 2 million of the amount owed to Lannan they might be able to land a decent “high upside/ugly numbers” prospect for him. Maybe someone like Stolmy Pimental from the Red Sox.
Bartlett’s untradeable as it now stands. This might be a way to get some value for him.
I think the Mets should try and get Lannan! The Mets need PITCHING!!!!!
Lannan for Pelf and someone else maybe turner
Meanwhile, Lannan draws down portions of his $5M contract, watching cars go by from the Hotel Syracuse (if it is still there). Does any other club in MLB keep $5M+ pitchers down on the farm “just in case”. This makes no sense. Throw $2M on the table, next to Lannan’s name, to see how many teams will take the bait. The front office owes John that much after the years he has toiled for them, during hard times.
Lannan is popular in the clubhouse and among a large segment of fans. In past seasons and this spring he showed he deserves a starting pitching slot somewhere in the majors. Whether Rizzo was right or wrong in sending him down doesn’t matter at this point. He needs to dazzle at AAA and force the Nats to find space for them on their stafff or enable them to trade him for a good return. Bad things happen to good people undeservedly sometimes. Now go dominate in AAA, John, and a better fate will be yours–the future is in your hands.