John Lackey and Kevin Millwood

[GoldGlove21]

5/$75M is a tough commitment, its really big and very few pitchers that sign deals at age 31 are any good by the end of the deal.

And, even with Lackey, we're not winning anything next year besides maybe a few more than 81 games. In 2011 he could definitely help us, but him helping us in 2012-2014 gets less likely each year.

I would sign him I think, largely because I expect our payroll to stay reasonable for most of that time.

But, I don't think its fair or accurate to say that signing him to that type of deal is a no-brainer or that thinking he isn't worth that type of contract and risk is a mistake.

Sign Lackey to the deal and allow a young pitcher to push him out. Then you deal him to a good team trying to make it to the playoffs for a solid return. The White Sox seem to make these smart baseball decisions all the time. This whole pitchers can't pitch past 34 or 35 argument is silly. Unless you want to give Felix Hernandez $18-$20 Million per on an 8 year deal, then Lackey type starters are what we should be targeting IMO. Lackey could be had for the salary we cut from this years squad (Huff, Baez, and Walker).