Jon Lester Agrees To Deal With Chicago Cubs
BOSTON (CBS) - Veteran free-agent left-hander Jon Lester has decided to sign with the Chicago Cubs.
Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that Lester and the Cubs have agreed to a six-year $155 million contract. The deal reportedly includes a vesting option for a seventh year.
According to Jeff Passan, of Yahoo Sports, the Red Sox, offered Lester a six-year, $135 million deal.
Jon Lester, Cubs agree on six-year, $155M deal, sources tell Yahoo Sports. Red Sox are runners-up. Their final bid: six for $135M.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 10, 2014
WBZ-TV's Dan Roche confirmed the signing.
Lester, who will turn 31 years old in January, was traded by Boston to Oakland at the deadline last summer. Lester went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts with the A's before allowing six earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in the American League Wild Card Game.
Prior to joining Oakland, Lester made 241 career starts -- all with Boston -- and had a 110-63 record, 3.24 ERA and 1.287 WHIP. After missing time early in his career due to being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in his rookie year, Lester has made at least 31 starts every season since 2008.
The trade of Lester in the summer came after the Red Sox failed to even come close to making an offer that would satisfy the free-agent-to-be. But even after the trade, Lester always kept open the possibility that he'd return to Boston.
"I don't need to be blown out of the water," Lester told the Boston Herald in August. "I'm not going to the highest bidder. I'm going to the place that makes me and my family happy. If that's Boston, it's Boston.
"My time there, the memories and all that stuff don't get erased based on this whole ordeal," Lester added at the time. "At the end of the season, it's not going to change my mind about going back there if they are aggressive and competitive and do the things they say they're going to do. Boston is definitely a place I would go."
Included in Lester's Boston memories are his no-hitter in 2008, his win in the clinching game of the 2007 World Series and his postseason dominance en route to his second championship in 2014.
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