The future of John Lackey in Boston

There are a lot of things I can say about John Lackey - though I choose to look forward to what the Angels have to do, since they've lost their big gun on top of the starting rotation.

The most disappointing thing about losing Lackey, who apparently signed a five-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, is the Angels never pulled the trigger on a trade for Roy Halladay - if talks were taking place over the winter meetings, then the Angels should have jumped at the chance to trade four or five spare parts, for one staff ace.

Maybe the Angels are one more starting pitcher away [Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens, Matt Cain?] - from basically having the same rotation that led to an American League West title in 2009.

It isn't doom and gloom, since the Angels still have four competent starting pitcher - the trade for Scott Kazmir this past season looms larger, especially if he can match Lackey's numbers.

The fact Kazmir probably can't match Lackey's intensity is good in the sense - he won't be showing up his teammates, his pitching coach and manager if things aren't going his way.

On the other hand, the fact that Lackey is an ornery son-of-a-gun is what makes him the pitcher that he is - the positives of having the starting pitcher with a little swagger and a lot of attitude is what the Angels will probably hard pressed to recapture.