Lackey has team convinced he’ll succeed at Fenway

December 17, 2009|Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff

When John Lackey’s agent, Steve Hilliard, spoke with Theo Epstein at the general managers’ meetings in Chicago in November, he was met with a bit of doubt. As Hilliard put it yesterday, “I could tell he was very skeptical at first.’’

It was the product of years of watching the emotional reactions of Lackey in his (often unsuccessful) outings at Fenway Park, both in the regular season and postseason.

“It was more just a gut feeling that we had based on facing him, and watching him pitch here, and maybe putting a little too much emotional weight on those tough outings he had earlier in his career, when he was seen [swearing in] the ballpark, into his glove,’’ Epstein said yesterday after news conferences to announce the Red Sox signings of Lackey and outfielder Mike Cameron. Perhaps it was in reference to the time Lackey was caught talking to himself after giving up a home run, including the line, “They should blow this [expletive] place up.’’

And by the time both men left the GM meetings? “Still skeptical,’’ Hilliard said.

“It was probably wrong of us to jump to that conclusion, but then you move and you do more digging,’’ Epstein said. “A lot of times free agents want to involve the Red Sox because it can help drive up the price, the same way they want to involve the Yankees and other big-market teams. But this was different right from the get-go. This seemed like a genuine strong interest in being part of what we have going on here. I’ll be honest, that did get our attention.’’

By the time the Sox met with Hilliard at the winter meetings, the interest had solidified. Epstein was convinced that Lackey wanted to take on Fenway Park, take on the American League East, and join what looks like one of the best starting rotations in baseball. It helped too that Lackey’s wife, Krista, hails from Sanford, Maine, and is an alumna of the University of New Hampshire.

“I was always interested in coming here,’’ Lackey said. “Winning was definitely my first priority of a team to go to . . . There’s been a lot of emotion both ways in regard to this team. You get knocked out of the playoffs, there’s not much worse than that.

“When you compete against a team that many times, you see what they’re about, and it will be a good fit for me, I think.’’

The Red Sox are not a team known for signing free agent pitchers to long-term deals, especially those in their 30s.