Get ready, folks. It looks like southpaw ace Jon Lester may hit free agency this winter.
After the Boston Red Sox saw their latest attempt at an in-season effort to sign their left-hander rebuked by the pitcher himself, it now appears, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, that Lester will, at the very least, wait until after the season to make up his mind regarding his future with the Red Sox – or with any other team.
"“When the time is right, we can talk about it,” Lester told CBSSports.com on Monday night."
Reports passed along by Heyman indicated Boston was prepared to raise its offer to the nine-figure range, closer to what many believe Lester is expecting in a new contract. Initial offers reportedly ranged somewhere in the field of four years – $70 million and the latest could have been as high as five years and $100 million, although Lester said his camp never received new numbers.
"“We never received a [new] offer,” he said. “The conversation had picked up. But there never was an offer thrown out there.”"
Lester said the team’s sudden change in its in-season negotiating policy “threw him off” and caused, to a degree, some confusion.
"“Since Day One I was told [not negotiating in season] was the policy,” Lester told CBSSports.com. “The way I think is pretty black and white. They tell me one thing, and we’re hell-bent on that [so to change gears] throws me off.”"
The former second-round pick of the Red Sox in 2002 is in the midst of his third All-Star season. So far, he is 9-7 with a 2.65 earned run average, following up a 2013 campaign that saw him go 15-8 with a 3.75 ERA for the World Series champion club.