After the Washington Nationals signed free agent pitcher Edwin Jackson, the common thought around baseball was that John Lannan, who has been with the organization since 2005, was expendable. The lefty would have been potentially one of seven pitchers competing for five starting spots in the rotation and one long-relief role, leaving one hurler in the dust. But what if I told you that trading Lannan would be a horrible idea?
The 27-year old southpaw recently lost his arbitration case with the team, meaning he’ll make $5 million in 2012 instead of the $5.7 million he wanted. Considering he’s not far off from Jackson, who was signed for nearly double, he’s a bargain and fans like him. The saying goes that “You can’t have enough starting pitching” and with guys like Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Chien-Ming Wang, and Gio Gonzalez, the Nats have plenty of arms that give the team a chance to improve on their 80-81 mark from a season ago. Ross De...
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