From the LA Times.
Article headline: Dodgers won't be pursuing John Lackey
Article content:
[LA's team president] said that would rule out Lackey "unless there is an effective way to make that kind of deal."
In other words, the Dodgers won't try to sign John Lackey unless it makes sense for them, and unless they can get him at what they perceive to be a fair and decent deal.
So, the Dodgers won't do anything that they perceive as being "outlandish" and irresponsible.
This is a quote that says nothing. Nothing at all. It's a team president saying the team won't do something the team thinks is stupid. Mannion might as well have said "We can't get him, unless we can." And yet someone at the Times thought this was enough to support such a concrete, assertive headline.
This isn't a big issue on its own or anything. John Lackey almost certainly will not be going to LA. It's just symptomatic of what I hate most about this time of the year - people making far too much out of far too little. I get it. Rumors are fun. People like to talk about roster change. But this business of trying to make little things out to be bigger than they are really soaks my socks. Quit it. Quit it. Just quit it. It sucks. Be honest.