Gammons: Cubs Believe Jon Lester Will Sign With Red Sox
BOSTON (CBS) -- There continues to be smoke surrounding the potential return of Jon Lester to Boston.
Peter Gammons said on CBS Sports Radio's The Morning Show that the Cubs believe the free-agent lefty starter will return to the team where he's spent most of his career.
"The Cubs think he's going back to Boston," Gammons said. "He and his reps are going to wait and see if the Yanks jump in & they might."
The Yankees, of course, could complicate matters, on account of their having a somewhat unlimited budget.
But Boston retains many advantages in the race to sign Lester, as no other team can offer the comforts of home, so to speak. Lester was drafted by the Red Sox in 2002, and he worked his way through the minor league system before making his major league debut in 2006. Late in his rookie year, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He received treatment and returned to the mound in 2007, earning a win in the clinching game of the World Series.
He earned All-Star nods with the Red Sox in 2010, '11 and '14, and he's posted a 110-63 record to go with a 3.64 ERA in 241 starts with the Red Sox. He won his second World Series in 2013, posting a 4-1 record and 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts.
But facing a season where they'd end up in the bottom of the AL East standings, the Red Sox traded Lester to Oakland prior to the trade deadline. He went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA with Oakland, and he now stands to cash in with a rich free-agent deal.
Whether that will be with the Red Sox remains to be seen, but Gammons is not the first voice in baseball to predict a Lester-Sox reunion.
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