As of late last night, the Pirates and the Cardinals were said to be the two teams most aggressively pursuing Jon Lester, who was scratched from Wednesday’s scheduled start. At one point yesterday, the Orioles looked close to a deal, but conflicting reports emerged on the severity of those negotiations. Regardless, Baltimore does seem to be in the mix, and a late-to-the-party mystery team was revealed to be the Athletics. We’ll keep track of the final stages of the Lester sweepstakes in this post…
- Talks with the Orioles fizzled yesterday in part due to a season-ending elbow injury to Hunter Harvey (one of Baltimore’s top pitching prospects), writes Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. With Harvey sidelined, the O’s became even more hesitant to deal from their crop of top arms.
Earlier Updates
- Hall of Fame reporter Peter Gammons tells WEEI’s John Dennis and Gerry Callahan that the Dodgers aren’t in the mix to acquire Lester at this point (Twitter link).
This is going to be a long, possibly-emotional day for me (and many Sox fans). The attachment to Jon Lester (the person, before the pitcher) is strong. I know we’ve all been talking about it for days (so I, like everyone else, therefore have little to add at this point) , but I’m going to be really sad when/if he leaves here :c
I still strongly believe he’ll pitch for Boston in 2015 whether he gets traded today or not.
If a player goes on the free agent market, there is no guarantee that you will sign them. Money trumps loyalty sometimes.
Loyalty goes both ways. If someone offers him three more years of job security than the Sox do it’s hard to blame him
Players always say that they loyal to a team and they go for the money. We have heard it all before.
Why shouldn’t they? I liked my last place of employment but another city offered me a rise and I picked up my family and moved. Same goes for ball players… its a fun job but it’s still a job.
Agreed, no guarantee. But everything he’s said gives the thought that he wants to pitch for the Red Sox and he doesn’t seem like a “take the highest offer” kind of guy. Boston will offer enough money, probably not NYY money but I don’t think he’s looking to go to NY. All this is, is my gut feeling that I formed from doing a lot of research. I do not personally know Jon Lester lol. I’d bet on the Red Sox right now though and it’d be a comfortable bet. Jon Lester is not Jacoby Ellsbury….
If I was a betting man, I’d personally put my money on Seattle signing him this offseason to something in the neighborhood of 5yr/120million. He is a Washington native and the thought of going home to play for a playoff caliber team may be hard to say “no” to.
I think Boston can match 5/120 and not have a problem with it and with 2 equal deals I think he picks Boston.
Only time will tell…
I think they definitely CAN match it. Third richest team in MLb, why couldn’t they? I just don’t think they want to dish out that kind of money for a pitcher on the wrong side of thirty. They got lucky with Lackey, he at least earned a portion of his contract he signed the last two years and next years salary will help. Historically, however, most pitchers who sign long term deals after they turn 30, don’t produce enough to warrant their value.
I love Jon Lester and love what he has done for the organization. A real class act. However his prime years are nearly behind him and by the time he is in the fourth and fifth year of a new contract comes around , he will be on the decline and won’t be worth the price tag.
I really want that to be the case, even though I’m doubtful. It’s more of a personal thing than a baseball thing for me right now
I truly believe Lester loves Boston and means it when he says he would resign (for a discount), even if traded. BUT, his feeling might change if he goes to Pittsburgh, leads them to the WS, and becomes a folk hero there. Too many variables to predict what he will do.
He’s already a hero here, leave and lead the Pirates to a WS then start opening day in Boston…can you imagine the deafening cheers?
My bet is the Yankees offer him 6/$168M and he is in pinstripes next year.
That might ACTUALLY kill me
Oh Lester is going to Yankees after the season for sure. Only so many teams can afford to pay him the contract he wants.
If they offer 6/$168 he’d be insane to not take that deal.
If Lester gets traded, I’d be shocked to see him go back to Boston. Boston is most likely not going to go over 100M on a contract with him and when you have the Yanks offering probably around 140-150M, my guess is that he’d take the extra 40-50M.
They’ll go over $100M, no worries.
They will not go $150M…
If the sox were going to go over 100M, it would have been over already. Why would you wait till FA when the Yanks can get involved? My guess is that the Sox don’t think they can resign him or don’t want to offer a large contract and are trying to get what they can before he signs elsewhere.
My guess is that they have a pretty good idea of what it will take to sign him and of his interest in coming back. Again, my money is on Lester pitching for Boston next season regardless of what happens today.
I just think that its a major risk because they’re most likely not getting a prospect in the top 100 MLB prospect rank. Letting a guy like Lester hit FA with the Yanks involved spells trouble. The Yanks will do anything to keep him from the sox and I doubt the sox pay up.
It is wishful thinking that a Red Sox player will choose loyalty over Yankee money.
Tough to show loyalty when the team low balled him with a contract earlier in the year. If the red sox don’t show any loyalty to him by giving him a contract worth his value, then why would he not take 40M more.
Players are loyal to money. Show me the money.
Not all players…Dustin Pedroia says hi
I expect the Cubs to waive a bunch of money at him too.
He’s not going back to Boston if traded. He’s putting on a nice public face, but the Red Sox have treated him poorly. Players don’t go back 3 months after being traded. If a player is traded, it means that they weren’t able to come to an extension agreement with their team. The Red Sox’s offer was so far below his value, it’s hard to imagine them coming back up to pay him what he’s worth.
Though Lester being on the pirates would be nice……. You all know hes not going to resign. He said he wants to go back to Boston during free agency after this year. The risk of trading away young talent who maybe able to help in the future is a HUGE risk to take for a guy who will only wear the uniform for a couple months.
Is there any thinking that the Pirates would be able to re-sign/extend him anyway? They balked at AJ Burnett’s price tag, even.
All signs point to no which is why it’s an attractive team for Boston to send him to.
All signs point to no which is why it’s an attractive team for Boston to send him to.
Honestly, I wait for the day the Pirates pay a guy 15M a year because they don’t plus they have way too much on their hands this off-season with Martin heading to free agency
If you look at the Phillies this year. I think AJ is the one who balked. The Pirates did offer a contract. He even said he wanted to retire as a pirate lol. But without him they arent doing so bad. Trading Grilli for Frieri was worse than burnett not resigning this year. Besides burnett has that hernia problem.
Hamels still makes the most sense for the Cards. Hamels and 10-15 million in cash for Taveras, Miller and a lower level Prospect. Hamels at 19 million per year locked up for 4 more years with Adam W., Wacha and Lynn. Lester is walking after the season so your giving up prospects and Maybe miller for 2 months.
Lester makes sense for Baltimore.
I believe that your Hamels trade is fair… The Phillies on the other hand will ask for more (which is insane) and why he won’t be moved.
I think the team making a big mistake in this by not going all out for Lester is the Dodgers. You go throw Lester, Greinke and Kershaw against any team in baseball, they are the favorites to win it all IMO. They also have the money to blow Lester away with a contract. They also have a couple ex teammates he got along great with. Greinke can opt out of his contract at the end of 2015. Something to keep in mind also
LA should be in on Hamels. They can afford to lose Pederson with Kemp rebounding and having a huge contract.
Sometimes teams make outrageous demands when they don’t want to trade a player.
It’s probably going to take more than Pederson to get it done. The Phillies will most likely want Urias and or Seager along with Pederson for Hamels.
They should want Urias too but Pederson and Urias is fair for Hamels. Urias is 17 and who knows what he will be in 4 years. The Phillies don’t need Seager since they have a stud ss prospect in JP Crawford almost ready.
I get the feeling that Hamels is not going anywhere. Rosenthal and others are stating that Phillie is not getting the amount of return that they were looking for in trade talks.
That’s because Amaro is asking for teams 4 top prospects which is outrageous. 2 tops and another lower one or two is fair. Maybe Amaro is just starting high and will go down from there at the last minute.
It could be that or it could be the idea that Amaro is not really wanting to move anyone and sets prices so high just to say he is at least offering good stuff.
I would be surprised if the Dodgers wanted to part with both of those prospects.
They were still just prospects though. The chance of even one of them becoming as good as Hamels is slim. Hamels is a left handed, former WS MVP ace in his prime, locked up for Years.
Yes but maybe going after Lester in FA is a better option because even though you’ll pay a little more, they can still keep their prospects.
That’s the thing they are still going to have to give up one top prospect for lester who is going to walk after the season. If they do resign lester it will cost more than Hamels contract. Lo
I’m saying don’t trade for Lester but go after him in FA. Even if it cost more, that 20 extra million is worth it considering it’ll allow them to keep their top prospects who are all in the top 20 of MLB Prospects.
Lester or Scherzer in the offseason, keeping all of their prospects.
Sounds like the market for Lester is calming down. The Dodgers don’t want to pay. Oakland can’t pay. And I think the Red Sox will want to trade him instead of settling for a comp pick at the end of the year. So maybe the price tag is going down.
Jon Lester is a cancer survivor. His victory over the disease is a testament to both his courage and the quality of care he received. That said his odometer has more miles on it than your average 30 year old as a result of that struggle. That’s just fact.
If the Orioles were able to obtain Lester, they’d run away in the East.
The best trade I can come up with for my two favorite Teams:
Red Sox get: Castellanos, Porcello, Ray
Tigers get: Lester, Uehara and Drew (all 2 month rentals).
Castellanos is better than any prospect the Tigers have. He can play 3rd or would be fine at LF at Fenway. Porcello has a full year left and is 25. Ray is their top left handed prospect (#2 Tigers prospect).
Tigers would get the top SP and RP on the market and a left handed bat with experience on the left side of the IF (both SS and 3rd are currently rookies).
Suarez shifts to 3rd base for the rest of the regular season.
They could also play all 4 OFers (one at DH, probably Hunter) and shift Cabrera to 3rd, VMART to 1st for the playoffs. Suarez and Drew would then platoon at SS for the post season.
It would defiantly make the Tigers the favorite in the AL, but I don’t think they’d bite. Porcello is having a good year and we’re talking about two other good young players for just rentals. I’m a sox fan and would do that in a heartbeat but don’t see the tigers doing it.
Unless Harvey was the player going to Boston (which I hope he wasn’t) I don’t see how his injury has anything to do with the trade occurring or not… Harvey is easily 2-3 years away from the big leagues… going down for half a season with a non ligament tear elbow injury isn’t really that bad.
Jeff Passan just said a source says Lester has been traded.
A’s are the team Cespedes is the headliner.