Baffoe: Learn To Like John Lackey

By Tim Baffoe--

(CBS) Minutes after the news broke that the Chicago Cubs had agreed to a two-year deal with right-hander John Lackey last Friday, I decided to write the "John Lackey is a bad person that you have to begrudgingly root for now" column.

It'd be so easy. So many Cubs fans had him on their list of most detestable opponents, and I found him from a distance to be a massive jerk.

But I've had a few days to swirl this around. After stepping away from the reflexive "Ughhhh" of the signing, I don't want to write that piece anymore.

Instead, let's all go glass-half-full or more on this signing. Every one of us has rooted for teams that employed far worse people than Lackey, who mind you is no criminal. The more you listen to teammates talk about the guy, the more it seems his negative reputation in every city he hasn't played in is due to misinformation, a lack of info or plain ol' bias against Southerners who scream on the mound.

"It's been tough for him," David Ortiz said of his then-Red Sox teammate during the 2013 World Series. "He struggled, and then people had this perception of him that he wasn't a good guy, and people had it out for him. It was tough. Now, everyone is seeing how good of a pitcher he is. And everyone is seeing what a good guy he is."

Once the signing is official, you're going to get testimonials from Theo Epstein, who was Lackey's general manager in Boston, and from Jon Lester and David Ross, Lackey's good buddies from the Red Sox.

But let's even get away from any debate over whether you'd want to have a beer and fried chicken with Lackey (infamous behavior that's long behind him with a diet that's much healthier now, which is a testament to him still pitching at a high level at age 37). Personality in an athlete is gravy, not the meat of what matters to the morally flawed business of sports.

Chicagoans have been through this, for better and worse, from Dennis Rodman (the poster child for fans doing a 180 on their loathing) to Jay Cutler to Albert Belle to A.J. Pierzynski to Carlos Zambrano to pre-criminal Milton Bradley. Despite what seems more and more like a John Lackey who isn't his personal reputation, what's important is his contribution to a Cubs team that's World Series capable now.

And the dude pitches his tail off. This isn't debatable -- even if it's often in yelly, scowly, Central Casting cowboy fashion. At 36 years old in 2015, he was seventh in the National League in ERA and fifth in WAR among pitchers. Most notably, he comes to play in the postseason.

Will Leitch noted after Lackey's magnificent Game 3 performance in the 2014 NLDS:

Here are Lackey's top Game Scores as a postseason starter:

2002 ALCS Game 4 (78): 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB
2013 ACLS Game 3 (74): 6 2/3 IP, 0 ER, 8 K, 0 BB
2009 ALDS Game 1 (73): 7 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 4 K, 1 BB
2014 NLDS Game 3 (70): 7 IP, 1 ER, 8 K, 1 BB

His average postseason Game Score is about 50, and Lackey has had 11 of those, for three different teams, spanning 12 years."

You can update that to 54.95 and 12 after Lackey tied his career-best Game Score with his shutdown of the Cubs in this past October's Game 1 of the NLDS (remember?) and what should be four different teams in a decade and-a-half. Lackey's fewer than six innings shy of cracking the top 10 of all-time leaders in postseason innings pitched. He's eighth in postseason starts.

Yes, he's old. Yes, $16 million a year isn't really cheap, but it isn't all that expensive, market considered. And it's for a mere two years in which Lackey is far more a can-help-can't-hurt member of a really good starting rotation.

Per Shawn Brody of Beyond The Box Score:

Should Lackey live up to his Steamer projection in 2016 (2.6 fWAR), the Cubs would actually receive $4.8 million in surplus value. Of course that is just a projection, and living exactly up to that doesn't always happen, but that type of value is a welcome addition to a young Cubs team who will soon begin paying their prospect-turned-veterans a dollar amount closer to their actual value as a result of arbitration. To me, I think this is where the true value of Lackey's deal lies.

With the only serious blemish being Edwin Jackson's deal, I think it's time to give the benefit of the doubt to every move by Epstein and Jed Hoyer era when it comes particularly to starting pitching.

But you're still hanging on Lackey being a jag, aren't you? Well, he's your jag now. And as when all jags don your favorite rooting laundry, you'll probably learn to like him because he'll probably be the John Lackey on paper he's always been. You may even (gasp) defend him against Cardinal fans.

Especially when he's pitching in blue pinstripes in the postseason.

Tim Baffoe is a columnist for CBSChicago.com. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBaffoe. The views expressed on this page are those of the author, not CBS Local Chicago or our affiliated television and radio stations.