who sang “Imagine there’s no heaven?”

In all seriousness, I like Lannan as maybe a third starter, but certainly not with that sort of a contract.

Not worth the money.

I understand that his K-rate is not attractive, but he has been effective for four straight years now.

2008 – 182 innings, 3.91 ERA
2009 – 206 innings, 3.88 ERA
2010 – 143 innings, 4.65 ERA
2011 – 184 innings, 3.65 ERA

Admittedly ERA can be deceptive, but when a guy goes out four years in a row and gives innings and does not give up too many runs, at some point you need to put aside whatever idea you might have of what a good pitcher’s stat line should look like and recognize that he is getting the essential part of his job done. Six innings a start, and most night two or three runs surrendered.

Just my two cents. I think he would make the Royals better next year, and after three straight years of enormous profit-taking God knows Glass can afford to pay a better than average starting pitcher something close to market rate on a one year contract. As long as the Nationals are not asking for better than a low B prospect I would be happy to see Moore swing a deal for Lannan.