7:11pm: The Red Sox have shown a willingness to continue negotiating after their initial offer, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.
4:44pm: Boston’s offer to Lester is in the $110-120MM range over six years, according to Cafardo (on Twitter). While that’s a notable step up in terms of their offer from last offseason, it’s still less than most expect Lester to accept.
11:28am: The club has indeed extended an offer to the Sandoval, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
10:00am: Boston is also lining up an offer for third baseman Pablo Sandoval after his visit with the club yesterday, Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com reports.
The Lester offer is “aggressive” and is of at least five years in duration, McAdam adds.
7:29am: The Red Sox have an offer on the table to free agent lefty Jon Lester, according to a report from Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. Lester is expected to take his time considering the proposal, and still has several other clubs with significant interest to explore.
Lester, the club’s once — and possibly future — ace, seems to be the top starter whose market is moving fastest at present. Clubs with reported interest also include the Cubs, Braves, Blue Jays, Royals, and Cardinals. There continue to be whispers that the Yankees could get involved, though concrete reports are lacking. A recent report suggests that six teams could be in the game.
Meanwhile, things remain quiet for the other top two starting arms, but that may not be surprising. James Shields could be a consolation prize for several teams in the mix for Lester, while Max Scherzer’s agent, Scott Boras, has a well-documented reputation for not pushing the market with his premium players.
