Jon Lester asked the Cubs to accept the final rose.
They accepted with a 6 year, $155 million dollar engagement ring. Dawwww. But what does it all mean?
1) The Red Sox worst to first to worst to first strategy that hinged on trading Lester to the A’s for Yoenis Cespedes so they could overpay him in free-agency by freeing up money by trading Yoenis Cespedes to some other team during the winter meetings doesn’t appear to have worked out like the Sox had planned.
If they’re still looking for people to give 8 to 9 figure contracts to, the comments are open on this post. I’ll respond. Promise.
2) Here’s the Cubs rotation as it stands now:
- Jon Lester
- Jake Arrieta
- Kyle Hendricks
- Travis Wood
- Edwin Jackson
Better? Yes.
Ready to pillage and plunder the NL Central with the abandon of a thousand wild wildebeests? I’m not so sure.
In fact, let’s go to CBS Sports for some info on one of the Cubs starters from their president Theo Epstein:
Epstein admitted he made a mistake in his disastrous signing of Edwin Jackson to a four-year, $52 million deal, which will pale in comparison to the money destined for potential free agents Jon Lester and Max Scherzer this winter. Jackson is 14-33 with a 5.58 ERA in two years with the Cubs, who are on the hook for two more seasons. But Epstein realizes that he must return to the free agent market to sufficiently improve his staff.
So, there you have it. Not exactly a sign that even the Cubs themselves are satisfied with this rotation.
3) Max Scherzer has a benchmark contract and it’s too rich for the Cardinals blood.
He’ll probably command a 5-6 year deal in the 130-140M dollar range and, in my opinion alone, that’s going to be about 20 million north of where the Cardinals are willing to go. If Lester had landed in that 135-140M range, Mo could have made a case that Scherzer should come aboard a contender for a little bit over 100-110M with some nice incentives. (ED NOTE: BLS thinks Scherzer is going to get over 200M!)
Now? He’s going to get PAID. I’m sure the Red Sox are calling. (Again, Mr. Cherington, I’m a hard worker!)
4) It’s good to be Jon Lester today.
Photo: Cubs On The Corner
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
