So Jim Bowden has a Twitter account and posted this to it yesterday:
#Cardinals have joined the Red Sox, Cubs and Braves in pursuit of Jon Lester according to a club source which makes sense after Miller trade
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) November 18, 2014
Wha?
Like Jon Lester? The real Jon Lester? The guy that this was written about on Boston.com?
ESPN sabermetrician Dan Szymborski crunched some numbers and determined that Lester is actually worth $145 million over six seasons, an annual average of $24.2 million.
It. Ain’t. Happening.
The highest paid Cardinal next season will be Adam Wainwright at 19.5M. Then Matt Holliday at 17M. Then Yadi at 15.2M. The only other Cardinal player over 10M is Jhonny Peralta.
BTW – the 5th highest paid player in ’15? Jaime Garcia at 9.3M!
Long story real short… the Red Sox, Cubs and several other teams are interested in Lester. His nearest comp – Max Scherzer reportedly turned down a 6 year/144M deal. And the Cardinals haven’t made a big free-agent pitcher signing since… Chris Carpenter?
The Birds just don’t give out the biggest contracts to players that don’t have any equity in the city and organization. Make no mistake, Jon Lester wants the biggest contract.
Nothing wrong with that. Get what you can when you can. But in order to get the biggest contract, you got to play the game. Playing the game means the rumor mill works extra hard.
These particular Cardinals rumors aren’t being smacked down by Lester’s agent John Yates in the hopes that the Cubs or Sox get ants in their pants and give in to their full asking price. The Cardinals aren’t quick to deny either, hoping the Cubs over pay and hamper their burgeoning development.
Whatever the reason this is out there, just know – Lester isn’t wearing the birds on the bat this upcoming summer.
Photo: Boston.com
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