New Red Sox executive vice president and general manager Ben Cherington announced on Tuesday that pitcher John Lackey will undergo Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm this offseason.
Lackey finished 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA in 28 starts.
“He’s a much better pitcher than what he showed in 2011,” Cherington explained at his news conference.
“Let me start by saying that John Lackey pitched through circumstances this year that I don’t think any of us in this room can fully understand, and he got beat up for it along the way,” he added. “This guy was dealing with some stuff both on the field and off the field.”
Since joining the Sox prior to the 2010 regular season, Lackey has posted a 26-23 record to go with a 5.26 ERA in 61 starts. In his last six starts of the 2011 season, Lackey went 0-3 with a 8.22 ERA.
Dr. Lewis Yocum will perform the surgery but no date has been set as of Tuesday afternoon.
Lackey will likely miss the entire 2012 season, a year he’s due to make $15.2 million. In a related note, according to Baseball-Reference.com, there is a “club option at minimum for 2015 if Lackey misses significant time 2010-2014 due to an elbow injury.”
