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Say hey, baseball: Dodgers are your Jon Lester mystery team
Your Thursday morning look at the game features the Dodgers’ interest in Jon Lester, the next A’s move, and a record-setting reliever contract.
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
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We began our Wednesday with news of a mystery team chasing after free agent starter Jon Lester. While mystery teams are sometimes just a negotiating ploy, Peter Gammons was buying this one, which is a sign that all of us should have believed on this occasion. Things remained status-quo-like for most of the rest of the day, with a report emerging that the Giants might not really be in on Lester to the degree the Cubs and Red Sox were, and a reaffirmation that the expectation was Lester making a decision by the end of this week, before the winter meetings.
It was then that the mystery team unveiled its identity. No, it was not the Yankees and their deep pockets, as so many Red Sox fans feared it would be. It was the Dodgers and their effectively deeper pockets, which should put the same fear in fans who were hoping for Lester under their tree this Christmas, even if it doesn't produce the same Yankees-induced rage.
What could the Dodgers' interest mean for the Red Sox, as well as the Cubs? The Dodgers have the same front office familiarity advantage for Lester that both the Sox and Cubs were hoping would differentiate them, and they have more money than either. Word is that they were hoping to stop adding so much payroll, however, so how would they go about making room for Lester? Possibly by trading Zack Greinke, who has an opt-out in his deal and could take off by this time next year.
Curiously enough, Ken Rosenthal still believes the Dodgers are more willing to make a trade for the less expensive Cole Hamels than to splurge on another major free agent. They've been protective of their prospects to this point, but Hamels would be on a shorter, less lucrative deal than anything Lester agrees to.
Lester might still be on target to sign by the end of the week, but things just got potentially a whole lot more expensive for the Cubs and Red Sox. Now we might finally see offers for Lester that make sense for a pitcher of his nature.
- The Braves aren’t making calls on Justin Upton, but nothing is stopping them from taking calls on the free-agent-to-be.
- The Royals are interested in a reunion with Melky Cabrera, and such a move would finally give them a second dangerous hitter in their lineup. If you weren’t aware, Royals, you’re allowed to have up to nine of them.
- The A’s have picked up every spare first base part left lying around this offseason, so the Indians are wondering if they’re now finished with their Brandon Moss.
- The designated hitter is just now back in style, writes someone who has just made a dangerous, lifelong enemy in David Ortiz.
- What can the Josh Hamilton contract teach us? The answer is the opposite of what you’d expect, and deserves a few moments from your eyeballs.
- Andrew Miller is going to shatter the contract record for a non-closer reliever, and it’s looking as if it’ll happen with the Yankees, Dodgers, or Astros. Or the Red Sox, if they miss out on Jon Lester in the very near future.
- The Rockies might actually make a trade that benefits their organization. The Mariners might be involved in the same trade, and might also benefit their organization. Two impossible to believe occurrences in one trade! What a country.
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