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Jon Lester

Red Sox, Lester Announce Extension

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5:22pm: WEEI Alex Speier has the year-by-year breakdown of Lester’s deal.  He’ll be paid pretty well over the next five years.

11:08am: Gary Dzen of Boston.com reports the Red Sox have announced the five-year deal. No details were given.

10:41am: Ron Borges of the Boston Herald reports the Red Sox and Jon Lester are expected to announce the signing of his $30MM extension this morning. The extension is expected to include a $13MM club option for 2014.

The cat was out of the bag last Sunday when Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan had the scoop.

Sox, Jon Lester Agree On Five-Year Extension?

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MONDAY, 2:07pm: WEEI’s Alex Speier spoke to Lester, who said there is currently no contract extension agreement with the Red Sox.

SUNDAY, 12:42pm: Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports is reporting the Red Sox have signed Jon Lester to a five-year, $30MM extension. The contract includes a $13MM team option for 2014.

Along with Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, this makes Lester the third long term contract handed out to homegrown talent in three months. Passan writes,

"The impending deal is the largest given to a pitcher with around two years of service time, doubling the four-year, $15 million deal Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona signed at the beginning of last season. If the Red Sox exercise the option, they will have kept Lester off the free-agent market for two years."

Lester will take a physical on Tuesday to finalize the deal.

Odds & Ends: Strasburg, Lester, Pudge

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Links for Monday…

  • Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talked to Brewers GM Doug Melvin, who said the Yankees have yet to contact him regarding their possible third base need.
  • ESPN’s Rob Neyer says the Mets don’t need Pedro Martinez.
  • The scouts Buster Olney talked to absolutely adore Stephen Strasburg.  One of them said, "Right now, he’s better than A.J. Burnett."  There’s no way the Nationals can pass on a talent like this.
  • WEEI’s Alex Speier compares Jon Lester’s record-breaking contract to others given to young pitchers.
  • Jim Baumbach of Newsday talked to Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado, who promoted Ivan Rodriguez and noted that assistant GM Tony Bernazard observed the catcher’s four-hit, two home run performance in Puerto Rico Saturday.
  • ESPN’s Peter Gammons notes the affordability of Boston’s pitching staff.

Lester Wants To Stay In Boston

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Joe Haggerty of the Boston Metro has a Jon Lester update on his blog, Hacks with Haggs.  Lester says he wants to play for the Red Sox for his entire career.

"If they approach me we can work something out to not only be a Red Sox for the next four or five years, but for my whole career."

Lester’s entering his last pre-arbitration season and isn’t scheduled to become a free agent until after 2012. Two of his teammates, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, signed long-term deals with the Sox this offseason. Yesterday, Joe McDonald of the Providence Journal suggested Lester could be the next to receive a multi-year deal.

Odds and Ends: Lester, Arbitration, Beimel

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Links for Friday…

Red Sox Reach Deals With Bard, Penny

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9:59pm: Ian Browne of MLB.com weighs in on Bard. He discusses the catching situation, and in particular, how the Red Sox will use Bard if free-agent Jason Varitek returns to the franchise.

SI.com points out Penny’s Interleague numbers: 7-11 with a 5.08 ERA in 24 appearances against American League opponents. Penny has spent his entire career in the National League.

8:41pm: Rob Bradford of WEEI.com spoke with Brad Penny, who confirmed his deal with the Boston Red Sox.

From Bradford:

“There were a lot of teams involved,” said Penny in a phone conversation. “But I wanted to go somewhere where I knew we had a great chance at winning, and Boston is that place.”

Bradford adds that Penny will be in Boston on Jan. 7 to take his physical and will begin his throwing program next week.

Bradford also updates the status of Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, who has started exercises on his throwing shoulder, which is earlier than in years past. Bradford’s post states that the injury that plagued Beckett at the end of the 2008 season has subsided. The injury centered around the intercostal muscles near the ribs and not the oblique as previously thought.

7:33pm: Free-agent catcher Josh Bard has reached a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox, Sean McAdam of the Boston Herald and Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe are reporting.

The Bard agreement is a nonguaranteed major-league deal worth $1.6MM. According to McAdam, Bard is viewed as a backup, but he could see more time depending upon what Boston decides to do at catcher.

Bard, 31 in March, spent seven games with the Red Sox in 2006 before Boston traded him to the Padres. He hit .202 in 57 games with San Diego in 2008.

McAdam has more on the Brad Penny deal, too. The agreement, a one-year deal with a base salary of $5MM, will be finalized Monday. Incentives and performance bonuses can increase the total deal another $3MM if Penny pitches more than 160 innings, McAdam reports.

Penny, 31 in May, went 6-9 with a 6.27 ERA in 17 starts and two relief appearances in 2008 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The right-hander played 4.5 seasons for the Dodgers. He played with the Florida Marlins from 2000 until he was traded in 2004.

With the addition of Penny, the Boston rotation now consists of Penny, Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester.

The move also allows righty Justin Masterson to remain in a setup role for closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Red Sox Rumors: Sabathia, Youkilis, Tazawa

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Red Sox rumors and links abound this morning.

  • ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Red Sox will meet with C.C. Sabathia within the next few days.  It’s unknown whether they have serious interest.
  • Olney adds that the Sox hope to sign Kevin Youkilis and Jon Lester long-term, in the wake of the Dustin Pedroia deal.  Peter Gammons suggested a deal for Youkilis could get done quickly.
  • Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe says GM Theo Epstein has prioritized catching.  Epstein suggested more catchers may be available in trade than people think.
  • Benjamin says the Red Sox also want to add a right-handed hitting outfielder who can play center (such as Rocco Baldelli) and a corner infielder.  Trade talks with the Tigers for Julio Lugo have broken down.
  • Epstein indicated to Benjamin that certain free agent pitchers will "dominate for years to come," and that’s the type he’s interested in.  He also said an eight-to-ten year deal for a free agent is unlikely, but Benjamin says not to rule out Mark Teixeira.
  • Epstein said at a press conference yesterday that the team’s Junichi Tazawa signing was made possible in part by the Daisuke Matsuzaka signing a few years back.  Dice-K and Hideki Okajima could be reasons Tazawa turned down more money from the Rangers.  Tazawa may begin his career in Double A.
  • The Boston Herald’s Sean McAdam looks at the controversy caused by the Tazawa deal.

Red Sox Sign Pedroia To Extension

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5:57pm: MLB.com’s Ian Browne wonders if the Pedroia signing is the first of several.  Will the Sox be able to hammer out extensions with Jon Lester, Kevin Youkilis, and Jonathan Papelbon this winter?

11:33am: Tony Massarotti has the contract breakdown.

11:18am: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox signed second baseman Dustin Pedroia to a six-year deal worth about $40.5MM.  ESPN’s Peter Gammons was right on this scoop as well.  The deal buys out two years of free agency and also has a club option for 2015.

Rosenthal cites the deals signed by Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, and Ryan Braun as comparables.  Pedroia’s deal covers one pre-arbitration season, all three arb seasons, and two years of free agency.  Ramirez received $54.4MM for the same slice of his career, Wright got $55MM, and Braun received $43.8MM.  Also, Brian McCann gets $37.8MM, Grady Sizemore gets $30.95MM, Evan Longoria is at $31.95MM, Robinson Cano gets  $42.49MM, and Chase Utley gets $55.5MM.  That assumes options are exercised, where applicable.

Santana Aftermath

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Now that the players have been agreed upon for the Johan Santana trade, some depictions of the 11th-hour negotiations have leaked out.

  • LEN3 says Santana is expected to get a six-year deal worth around $130MM ($21.66MM annually).  He also notes that Santana had given the Twins an end-of-day Tuesday deadline or else he would’ve used his no-trade clause.
  • Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record chronicles Bill Smith’s last-ditch attempts to get the Yankees and Red Sox involved.  He apparently asked the Yankees for Ian Kennedy, Melky Cabrera, and a top prospect and was denied.  The Red Sox wouldn’t part with Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury.  To me this makes the Yankees and Red Sox look really fickle.  They were willing to offer up these huge packages a few months ago but now both have done a 180? I know the free agent market has shrunk but it’s still crazy that their stances changed so dramatically.
  • Newsday says the Mets added Deolis Guerra as the final offer yesterday. 
  • Joe Posnanski has heard many varying opinions on the deal.

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