John Lackey and His 6.41 ERA to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

After enduring a rather rough season with the Boston Red Sox in which he apparently spent more time drinking beer and scarfing down fried chicken than improving his pitching, John Lackey will undergo reconstructive elbow surgery and miss the entire 2012 season.

The right-hander seriously sucked it up in 2011, ending the season with a 12-12 record and 6.41 ERA. If he wasn't in his second of a five-year, $82.5 million contract -- at the age of 33 no less -- he would totally be a free agent right about now.

Spankin' new general manager Ben Cherington had this to say regarding Lackey's terrible season:

"[Lackey] pitched through circumstances this year that I don’t think any of us in this room can fully understand, and he got beat up for it a little bit along the way. This guy was dealing with some stuff both on the field and off the field that were really difficult. I thought he showed tremendous toughness pitching through that.”

One of these difficult offseason circumstances Cherington eluded to may have been Lackey filing for divorce from his wife, who has breast cancer. Yikes.

The general rehabilitation period from Tommy John surgery is 12-18 months. While many pitchers come back as if they have shiny new robot arms, others never pitch well again. Guess we'll see how Lackey is affected by the surgery in 2013!

[NESN]

Theo Epstein Officially Joins Cubs, Ben Cherington Likely Replacement in Boston

A guest post from our girl Muffin Top to support her new blogging endeavors.

An incredible run that included two World Series Championships (and three extra playoff berths via Wild Card) for the youngest ever general manager in baseball at the time ended on a sour note with fried chicken, beer bellies, and mayhem last month before Theo Epstein decided to abandon ship and head for Chicago.

Not sure it will be any smoother sailing in the windy city, but Theo Epstein is always up for a challenge... except that one time he quit his general manager job for five days upon sneaking out of Fenway Park disguised as a gorilla. We all do things we're not proud of.

Epstein, now 37, officially resigned from his position as Red Sox general manager Friday night and became the president of baseball operations for the Cubs. Of course, fans on the North Side are especially giddy, considering they haven't won a World Series since back in 1908. The one man who seems equipped for the job of bringing that end of the city their first Championship in over a century made it possible for Boston after an 86-year drought before they captured another ring three years later in 2007.