Cubs sign Lackey away from Cardinals

Fox Sports, the deal is for two years and $32 million. The upstart Chicago Cubs already added to their rotation by adding veteran John Lackey.

That contract extended to a sixth season, 2015, because one of the provisions of that contract was that Lackey would play for the minimum ($507,500) in 2015 if he had missed any of the previous five seasons because of an injury.

The contract agreement surfaced about an hour after President Theo Epstein confirmed the team's interest in David Price though it didn't have the financial resources the Red Sox did to sign Price to a seven-year, $217 million contract. Against NL Central teams, including the Cubs, Lackey had a 2.13 ERA.

The 25-year-old Olmos went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in six appearances with the Mariners last season, including two starts. Additionally, he threw 218 innings, which was the second most in his career and the most since 2007, when he threw 224.

The agreement with Lackey, which will become official once he passes a physical examination, addresses one of the Cubs' three main priorities for the offseason: starting pitching, relief pitching and center field.

The Cubs will lose their first pick in the 2016 draft to the Cardinals because of the signing. He will be reunited with left-hander Jon Lester and catcher David Ross, who were his teammates on the 2013 Boston Red Sox team that won the World Series.

Lackey will presumably slot in as Chicago's third starter behind 2015 NL Cy Young award victor Jake Arrieta and Lester. Regarded as a fierce competitor, sometimes to his own detriment as was the case in his rematch against the Cubs in Game 4 of the Division Series, Lackey said in June 2014 that his post-surgery approach is to "chuck it as hard and fast as I can until [my elbow] breaks again... then we'll call it a day". Adding a top-end closer could give them a dominant late-inning trio to close out games for the next season. He has previously pitched for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.