Cubs reportedly offered David Price less than Jon Lester

The Chicago Cubs were reportedly interested in David Price, but in the end they valued Jon Lester higher?

For the better part of a year, the rumor mill around David Price’s upcoming free agency often associated him with the Chicago Cubs.

And for all rational reasons, the alignment between the two made sense: the Cubs were aligning themselves as big spenders in their new found competitive push, Price had history with manager Joe Maddon and had a reported taste for the National League as well.

All the stars were aligned….until they were not anymore.

In the end, Price landed in virtually the polar opposite environment with, a record-setting $219 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, who blew away the competition with the levels they reached to acquire the prized lefty. And meanwhile, as he settles into his new digs, the formerly perceived leaders in the clubhouse for his services strangely set well on the outside of even being runner-up in bidding for his services, a dubious honor that the St. Louis Cardinals received in a bid that reportedly still was $30 million short of what Price walked away with.

But just how far off were the Cubs? Well, they were miles off if what reports are indicating their best bid was are accurate.

According Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, the Cubs’ final offer for Price came in at seven years and $161 million. Under normal circumstances, this would be a handsome payout for most player’s services, however this is not most players.

Price has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball for the past decade and is coming off a year where he finished as runner-up in American League Cy Young honors while pulling the Toronto Blue Jays all the way to the American League Championship Series.

Price put himself in firm position to be one of the highest paid players in all of baseball, and the fact that he received the richest contract in MLB history for a pitcher should not be surprising. Yet what is surprising is that the Cubs would think that with the momentum and leverage that Price was carrying that he would agree to deal that pay less annually than the one the six year, $155 million deal they signed Jon Lester to last off season.

The offer to Price was only good enough to put him $1 million north annually of what Jordan Zimmermann signed on with the Detroit Tigers for. This is no slight to Zimmermann, but Price is operating in a completely different stratosphere, as the final outcome of his life on the open market resoundingly proved.

More likely than not, it was simply the Cubs offering the most competitive deal they could afford to. They have the upcoming free agency of Jake Arrieta to consider, whose risen stock on the other side of his Cy Young Award-winning campaign has changed his future earning level as well. They have also been cautious in extending major deals overall this winter, opting instead to ink John Lackey to a more modest two-year, $32 million deal, and extended a shorter term offer to former Cub Jeff Samardzija as well, who ultimately signed on with the San Francisco Giants.

Regardless of it all, it is a curiously lackluster end to what was seen as a match made in hot stove heaven just as recent as a week ago.