John Lannan Requests Trade After Demotion to Triple-A

Just one day after being assigned to Triple-A Syracuse by the Washington Nationals, John Lannan has already requested a trade.

MLBtraderumors.com reports that Lannan sent an email to the media saying that he told General Manager Mike Rizzo that he would like to be traded.

In the email, Lannan told the media that, "I believe that I belong in a big league rotation."

Lannan's 2011 season shows support of that statement, as he was arguably the best pitcher on the team. 

In 184.2 innings (33 starts), Lannan went 10-13 with a 3.70 ERA.

In the wake of the Chien-Ming Wang injury, many around the league believed Lannan to be the favorite for the No. 5 job in the rotation. Instead, manager Davey Johnson named Ross Detwiler the No. 5 starter on Tuesday.

Despite the $5 million salary (second out of all pitchers on the roster), the Nationals chose to go with the hot hand out of Spring Training in Detwiler, instead of the inconsistent Lannan.

Many teams were interested in Lannan last month prior to Wang's injury, so getting a deal done shouldn't be too difficult for Washington.

Rizzo decided to hold onto Lannan in the end because he did not feel that any of the trades gave Washington fair value in return.

The Red Sox, Tigers, Royals and a few other teams could be in the mix for the left hander, but it remains to be seen if any team will pony up what the Nationals are asking for (which remains unknown).

To make matters worse for Lannan, the Nationals are under no obligation to abide by his request.

All signs point to him being given what he wants, though, as the last thing the Nationals need is a disgruntled starter making $5 million just sitting in Triple-A.

Pure speculation on my part, but I believe that this situation will be resolved before the end of April.