July 26: The Orioles announced that Lester went unclaimed on waivers and has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll remain with the organization but is no longer on the 40-man roster.
July 19: The Orioles announced they’ve designated corner infielder/outfielder Josh Lester for assignment. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for Shintaro Fujinami, who has officially been acquired from Oakland.
Baltimore signed Lester to a minor league contract over the winter. The left-handed hitter had debuted with two MLB games for the Tigers last season after seven-plus years in the minors. Baltimore selected his contract in early June and has gotten him into 11 more MLB contests. He has collected four hits (all singles) and a walk in 23 plate appearances.
The 29-year-old has spent the rest of the season with the O’s top farm team in Norfolk. His .273/.326/.504 batting line over 292 plate appearances is around league average in a very offense-oriented International League. Lester can bounce around between the corner positions but is more of a bat-first player.
Baltimore will trade him or put him on waivers within the next week. Detroit successfully ran Lester through outright waivers at the start of last offseason. If he goes unclaimed again, he’d have the ability to test minor league free agency as a player with multiple career outrights.
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I’m surprised he isn’t related to Jon Lester.
Yes, Shintaro Fujinami has no relations to Jon Lester.
????
The title is about Josh Lester.
Not to be confused with John Leister.
Lucas Luetge’s given name is Lucas Lester. Believe it or not but he is also unrelated to Shintaro Fujinami.
Lucas Luetge (2012-2023)
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given: Lucas Lester
Current Team/Franchise: Atlanta Braves
No. He isn’t related to him.
The most important detail was emitted from the article, Shintaro is good friends with Ohtani. This might be a sign the Orioles will be ready to open the check book this off season and become a serious contender.
Fujinami is a FA at the end of the year and John Angelos is about as likely to give Ohtani $500+ million dollars as I am.
Lol it’s such a ridiculous suggestion. Fujinami was acquired to help us win games in 2023 and that’s absolutely it.
But who’s he better friends with ? Kikuchi Maeda ? Fuji? Yoshida , Suzuki …Who’s gettin $$ to bring over Sho
And Ohtani has about as much interest in living in Bodymore, Murderland about as much as I have interest living on the North Pole. He’s signing with the Dodgers or Giants. Outside chance of Miami or Seattle.
IDK if he’s good friends with but but they did play against each other in high school
Josh had a couple of big hits for the O’s this year. Good luck, dude!
Wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Shohei resigns with Arte
Johnny lestuh?! Get the chowda!
Maybe Lester can be packaged in a trade. He’s at least several behind in line on the OF call up list which has got to be a discouraging place to be for a 29 year old guy who’s basically organizational depth. At least he got to the Show this year and got his first MLB hits.