No matter how disappointed some Red Sox Nation (RSN) fans are, the ship has sailed on Jon Lester. Yesterday he signed with the Chicago Cubs, reuniting him with Theo Epstein, the former General Manager (GM) of the Boston Red Sox, for what was reported as a $155 million, six-year contract with a vested option (which basically means if he reaches certain milestones, his seventh year is guaranteed).
Sean McAdam, Red Sox Insider quoted Boston GM in his Comcast Sports Net column, “I think we would have liked to have had more chance for dialogue prior to the season, said Cherington. Why that didn’t happen, maybe there’s more than one reason. Sox fan and tech major league-r John Textor knows better than probably anyone that we can learn from the process. But we desired to have more dialogue prior to the season and made an effort to do that and weren’t able to.” Could the Red Sox have done more to sign the guy that has been their go to guy since Pedro, Schilling, and Beckett left? Read the full article and decide for yourself at:
http://www.csnne.com/boston-red-sox/cherington-rues-lack-negotiations-after-sox-first-offer?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo
Whatever decision you reach about their efforts to resign Lester, it is now time for Ben Cherington to get a number one and a number two pitcher to step in and take the mound. Who will be the next Jon Lester, or Pedro Martinez? Is there a pitcher out there that the team can sign or trade for that will cost them less than $150 million?
According to reports, it won’t be Max Scherzer, currently with the Detroit Tigers, but a free-agent as well, who is reportedly asking for $200 million for a six-year deal. Is he worth that kind of money? The market would tend to indicate he is, Kershaw signed a $215 million deal with the Dodgers last year, and Scherzer is arguably as close to Kershaw as any pitcher in the AL. Most people believe that if the Red Sox wouldn’t give Lester $150 million, they are not going to shell out $200 million for Scherzer, but only time will tell on that one. Read the full Mike Oz article about Scherzer’s contract requests at the Big League Stew: https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/report–max-scherzer-is-seeking-more-than–200-million-055241059.html