The Cubs made it official Tuesday afternoon.
RHP John Lackey has signed a two-year contract and was added to the 40-man roster. The Cubs did not disclose the terms of Lackey’s contract. Lackey reportedly agreed to a two-year, $32 million deal that will pay him $12.5 million in 2016 and 2017. Lackey received $7 million signing bonus.
With the addition of John Lackey, the Cubs’ 40-man roster officially stands at 38 players.
The team has not announced signing RHP Trevor Cahill to a one-year contract. Once Cahill passes a physical and is deal is done, there will be 39 players on the 40-man roster.
John Lackey, 37, went 13-10 with a career-best 2.77 ERA (67 earned runs in 218.0 innings) and 1.22 WHIP in 33 starts with the St. Louis Cardinals last year, his 13th major league campaign. He finished ninth in Cy Young Award voting after matching his career high in starts while his 218.0 innings pitched were second-most in his career (highest since his career-best 224.0 innings in 2007). Lackey ranked seventh in the National League in ERA, as he now joins a starting rotation for next season featuring three of the top 15 ERAs in the N.L. from 2015 (Jake Arrieta, second at 1.77 and Jon Lester, 15th at 3.34).
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Lackey is 165-127 with 18 complete games, eight shutouts and a 3.92 ERA (1,080 earned runs in 2,481.1 innings) with a 1.31 WHIP in 388 Major League games, all but one as a starter, with the Angels (2002-09), Red Sox (2010-11 and 13-14) and Cardinals (2014-15).
Lackey’s 2,481.1 innings pitched since the start of the 2002 campaign are fourth-most in the majors while his 165 victories and 387 starts both rank fifth, and his 1,965 strikeouts rank sixth.
Lackey has 12 double-digit win seasons since 2003, second-most in the majors behind only Mark Buehrle (13), and Lackey has posted 10 or more wins in every full season he has pitched since 2003. Lackey has reached the 200.0-inning mark six times, including 218.0 innings last season, and has made 31 or more starts in a season eight times.
The right-hander owns an 8-5 record with a 3.11 ERA (44 earned runs in 127.1 innings) and 1.21 WHIP in 23 career post-season games, including 20 starts. His eight post-season victories are second-most among active pitchers, trailing only CC Sabathia’s nine victories. Lackey went 1-0 with a 3.48 ERA (earned runs in 10.1 innings) and a0.77 WHIP in two NLDS outings versus the Cubs.
In 2013, Lackey went 10-13 with a 3.52 ERA (74 earned runs in 189.1 innings) and 1.15 WHIP in 29 starts for the World Champion Red Sox after missing the previous campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in November of 2011. He went 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA (8 ER/26.0 IP) in five post-season games (four starts) during the club’s World Series run.
Named an American League All-Star in 2007, Lackey set career marks with 19 wins and 224.0 innings pitched for the Angels. He led the A.L. with a 3.01 ERA en route to a third-place finish in the A.L. Cy Young vote. The 2007 campaign also marked his fifth-straight with at least 32 starts.
John Lackey made his Major League debut with the Angels in 2002, going 9-4 with a complete game, a 3.66 ERA (44 earned runs in 108.1 innings) and 1.34 WHIP in 18 starts before he went 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA (six earned runs in 22.1 innings) in five post-season outings (three starts). He won Game Seven of the World Series against the San Francisco Giants on three days rest, becoming the first rookie pitcher to win a World Series Game Seven since Pittsburgh’s Babe Adams in 1909.
A native of Abilene, Texas, Lackey was originally selected by the Angels in the second round of the 1999 Draft out of Grayson County College in Denison, Texas.