Will the Boston Red Sox Trade John Lackey?

With the New Year upon the baseball world, free agents remain, looking for a team to call their new home.  While it’s guaranteed there will be future signings involving free-agents, trades continue to be a regular discussion on the hot stove surrounding Major League Baseball and the Boston Red Sox are no exception.

With six proven starters who are all Major League ready, the Red Sox could deal one of them prior to Opening Day slated for March 31. Ryan Dempster, Jake Peavy and John Lackey have been the most mentioned, while Felix Doubront‘s name has surfaced but on pure speculation.

It’s been argued that Lackey would likely fetch the greatest return for the Red Sox after his dominating performance on the mound during the team’s championship run last fall.

Ian Browne of MLB.com opines that there is no way the Red Sox would trade Lackey, unless they shocked the baseball world and signed Masahiro Tanaka.  Browne points to the way Lackey performed on the grandest stage last season along with his league minimum salary that the Red Sox will gladly pay in 2015, due to his Tommy John Surgery that forced him to miss the entire 2012 campaign.

So as this cold, blustery winter drags on with Spring Training on the horizon, it’s likely the Red Sox will head to sunny Florida with six competent starters vying for five spots.  Browne writes that if all six should stay healthy then a deal could be made prior to the end of March.

With the resume that Lackey has established and his bare bones salary following this season, he will be the most attractive option for team’s looking to add a starter.  That could present an opportunity for Ben Cherington to strike while the iron is hot and pull the trigger on a deal that could improve his ball club.  Then again, dealing Lackey could muster the point that it weakened the rotation.

What are your thoughts surrounding John Lackey?  Will the Red Sox deal him or will it be another starter that they move to trim down their rotation?  Take part in our poll and you be the judge.