Jon Lester Would Take “Pedroia Deal”
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Jason Mastrodonato of MassLive.com supplies us with this…
"Lester, who will be a free agent after 2014, is willing to take a hometown discount to sign a contract extension that would keep him in Boston “until they rip this jersey off my back,” he said Thursday at the BBWAA dinner in Copley Square."
Mastrodonato adds many quotes from Lester, and each those quotes is an eye-opener on some level. When you read them, you have only thought: Jon Lester gets it.
The reference to the extension Dustin Pedroia signed last July (eight years, $110MM) isn’t a gauge of the type of deal Lester would be requesting. No, it’s meant to serve as acknowledgment that he would be willing to take a “hometown discount” to remain with Boston.
Can you blame him? The Red Sox have won a pair of World Series since Lester has been a member of its starting rotation.
But this quote from Lester talks about said discount.
"“I understand that to stay here you’re not going to get a free agent deal,” he [Lester] said. “You’re not going to do it. You can’t. It’s not possible. You’re bidding against one team. I understand that you’re going to take a discount to stay. Do I want to do that? Absolutely. But just like they want it to be fair for them, I want it to be fair for me and my family. If we can get to something hopefully in Spring Training, that’s awesome. I want to stay here.”"
It is worth noting that Lester is represented by Sam and Seth Levinson, the same agents that represent Pedroia. Both sides already have a good idea of how this could play out within the next few weeks. That’s a bonus for both.
Just today, the Milwaukee Brewers inked Matt Garza to a four-year, $52MM deal, or AAV of $13MM. What’s that make Jon Lester worth…on the open market?
According to Fangraphs, Lester has topped $13MM as far as his value in each of the past six seasons. The total over those six years: a staggering $124.1MM. This value is based upon what Lester would have made had he been on the free agent market.
Now back to Matt Garza. Over this same six-year period, his total value is $72.6MM. He’s now $52MM richer.
Lester has to be worth more then, right? He certainly is, and I believe Red Sox GM Ben Cherrington will take care of the lefty.