Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox announced on Friday that right-hander John Lackey will return from a right bicep strain and start on Sunday against the Houston Astros. He left his first and only start this season on April 6 against the Toronto Blue Jays with the injury, after allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and one walk over 4.1 innings.
Lackey did not pitch at all in 2012 after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in November of 2011, and he hasn’t given Boston a great return on their five-year, $82.5 million investment to this point with a 26-23 record and a 5.26 ERA over 61 starts during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Prior to signing with the Red Sox Lackey spent his first eight seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, with the best season of his career coming in 2007 (19-9, 3.01 ERA and a career-high 224 innings pitched).
Lackey will likely be on a pitch count against the Astros, but a favorable matchup makes him a viable one-shot fantasy option for owners in deep leagues who are struggling to find suitable pitching . If he is able to string together a few starts without issue Lackey could become a good option in AL-only leagues, but durability concerns will surely still follow him.
Right now Lackey is available in 97 percent of Yahoo! leagues, which may be enough for fantasy baseball owners that have had their pitching hit by injuries to at least consider adding him. I think it would be wise to wait until after Sunday’s start before giving Lackey a long look as a potential waiver wire addition in any league format, but for the first time in quite a while he is back on the fantasy radar.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
