Say hey, baseball: Jon Lester is a Cub and Max Scherzer will be rich

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day, and trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end.

First the rumors appeared that Jon Lester wasn’t interested in a seven-year, $175 million offer, which everyone assumed belonged to the Dodgers. Then, in quick succession, we learned that the Giants were officially out of it courtesy San Francisco’s assistant general manager Bobby Evans, and that the Dodgers were also out of the mix. It was down to Lester’s former team, the Red Sox, and the one run by his old bosses, the Cubs. As industry insiders had been predicting Tuesday, Lester ended up with Chicago for six years and $155 million.

The Cubs jumped on what’s next before they even picked up Lester officially, trading for catcher Miguel Montero and the entire $40 million he was still owed by the Diamondbacks. They’re rumored to be chasing Lester’s favorite catcher, David Ross, though the Sox are still after Ross to be their backup backstop, too.

Giants’ general manager Brian Sabean says his team never got to make their final offer for Lester, which is probably not something he should be saying out loud since it makes it sound as if he wasn’t aware that was a thing he should be doing. Lester’s decision was supposed to come last week, then on Monday, then on Tuesday, and it dragged into Wednesday as far as Chicago and Boston are concerned. Show some hustle, Sabes.

The Red Sox need pitching, but that doesn’t mean they should panic and give the Phillies whatever they want for Cole Hamels. There are other options out there, even if not all of them are aces. One thing we know they won’t do is give Max Scherzer the $200 million guaranteed he’s looking for, something only Clayton Kershaw has managed before. It might end up being more like $180 million with an option to bring it to $200 million -- like Felix Hernandez and Justin Verlander have come close to or done -- but Scherzer will get paid by someone.