Jon Lester delivering greatest free-agent season for pitcher in more than 15 years

[redseat]

Jon Lester delivering greatest free-agent season for pitcher in more than 15 years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Every start is worth another million, maybe more. Jon Lester doesn't think this way, because his parents, and the reality of beating cancer at 22 years old, taught him to savor the moment he's living and not the ones ahead. And yet baseball operates in a universe parallel to the one playing out in the standings column. It is forever stealing glances at crystal balls.

If the Oakland A's maximize their rotation – and they didn't trade for Lester to baby him down the stretch – he's got 10 regular-season starts left, 10 he hopes fare as well as his first 24 this season, 10 in which the goal is to lead the A's to the American League West crown. Ten, perhaps most important, for his arm to stay healthy like it has for all of his 30 years.

Because it's been a long, long time since a starting pitcher's fortunes have broken good in a walk year like Jon Lester's. He turned in his typical ho-hum performance Tuesday night, snapping the eight-game winning streak of baseball's hottest team, the Kansas City Royals, while striking out nine over six innings. Just another outing to add to a tableau that grows prettier by the start and places him not in elite company but atop it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lavished $147 million on Zack Greinke after a season in which he put up a 3.48 ERA. Lester's is nearly a run lower. The Phillies gave Cliff Lee a $24 million-a-year deal when his Fielding Independent Pitching – a metric that predicts future performance as well as any using strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed – led the league. Lester's this year is even better. His ERA and FIP top CC Sabathia's in the wake of his remarkable stretch run with Milwaukee in 2008, destroy those of Barry Zito before his $126 million contract and best all the second-tier pitchers who got paid: Anibal Sanchez and John Lackey and A.J. Burnett and C.J. Wilson. Even the pitcher expected to fetch more in free agency than Lester, Detroit ace and reigning Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, trails Lester in ERA and FIP.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jon-le...-pitcher-in-more-than-15-years-061727621.html

 

[redseat]

There is no way he comes back to Boston! Teams will throw money at him like it's Monopoly money and he will rightly take it.

 

[steveringo]

And at the same time he says he doesn't need to be blown away...

Jon Lester Still Feeling Strong About Return To Red Sox After Season - The Sports Journal

He will be.

 

[HUBSTER]

And at the same time he says he doesn't need to be blown away...

Jon Lester Still Feeling Strong About Return To Red Sox After Season - The Sports Journal

He will be.

He sure makes it sound like he wants to be back.

 

[redseat]

He sure makes it sound like he wants to be back.

"IF THEY REALLY WANT ME"

Key word there

 

[HUBSTER]

"IF THEY REALLY WANT ME"

Key word there

It's nice to feel wanted.

 

[redseat]

It's nice to feel wanted.

It certainly is... But I am not so sure how much he IS wanted by the Sox brass

 

[Indrid Cold]

It certainly is... But I am not so sure how much he IS wanted by the Sox brass

Yeah, they're going to have to have a solid feeling that they'll be competitive again before Lester gets too old for them to make a good run at him.

 

[HUBSTER]

It certainly is... But I am not so sure how much he IS wanted by the Sox brass

We'll certainly know this offseason.

 

[StanMarsh51]

I don't see Lester's 2014 being better than CC's 2008....Lester's ERA and FIP are lower, but we also need to remember that 2014 is a less offensive year than 2008 (runs per game are 4.09 in 2014, compared to a much higher 4.65 in 2008). CC's ERA+ was 156 that year, slightly higher than Lester's current 155.

Lester's also on pace for 222 innings, 31 less than CC threw in 2008 (CC had 10 complete games that year).

 

[navamind]

I don't see Lester's 2014 being better than CC's 2008....Lester's ERA and FIP are lower, but we also need to remember that 2014 is a less offensive year than 2008 (runs per game are 4.09 in 2014, compared to a much higher 4.65 in 2008). CC's ERA+ was 156 that year, slightly higher than Lester's current 155.

Lester's also on pace for 222 innings, 31 less than CC threw in 2008 (CC had 10 complete games that year).

Agreed. And the crazy thing about Sabathia's year was, he had a 13.50 ERA through his first four starts. It was 1.88 in his other 31 starts.

 

[StanMarsh51]

Agreed. And the crazy thing about Sabathia's year was, he had a 13.50 ERA through his first four starts. It was 1.88 in his other 31 starts.

Yea, I remember a number of people on the ESPN boards that year claiming that CC was 'proof' that the NL was vastly inferior to the AL since his AL ERA that year was 3.83 and his NL ERA was 1.65..

But they all failed to realize that those first 4 starts really skewed his AL numbers (after that 13.50 ERA in his first 4 starts, he had a 2.16 ERA in his final 14 starts before being traded).

 

[redseat]

I don't see Lester's 2014 being better than CC's 2008....Lester's ERA and FIP are lower, but we also need to remember that 2014 is a less offensive year than 2008 (runs per game are 4.09 in 2014, compared to a much higher 4.65 in 2008). CC's ERA+ was 156 that year, slightly higher than Lester's current 155.

Lester's also on pace for 222 innings, 31 less than CC threw in 2008 (CC had 10 complete games that year).

Damn you and your logic and backing it up with numbers!

 

[navamind]

Yea, I remember a number of people on the ESPN boards that year claiming that CC was 'proof' that the NL was vastly inferior to the AL since his AL ERA that year was 3.83 and his NL ERA was 1.65..

But they all failed to realize that those first 4 starts really skewed his AL numbers (after that 13.50 ERA in his first 4 starts, he had a 2.16 ERA in his final 14 starts before being traded).

Yeah, the whole "NL/AL" debate was ridiculous. But the best was when TrueNiners kept arguing that Vladimir Guerrero and Pedro Martinez "INSTANTLY" won awards and dominated the AL when they switched over, acting as if they were scrubs in the NL. Funny thing was, Vlad had a few years in Montreal (2000, 02) that were arguably better than his 2004 season. Not to mention Pedro had a 213 ERA+ in his final year as an Expo in 1997, winning the NL CYA. Pedro's ERA+ his first year in Boston? 163 and he finished 2nd in the CYA voting.

 

[Indrid Cold]

"IF THEY REALLY WANT ME"

Key word there

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJs_L7yq5qE]Cheap Trick - I want you to want me 1979 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[steveringo]

Yeah, the whole "NL/AL" debate was ridiculous. But the best was when TrueNiners kept arguing that Vladimir Guerrero and Pedro Martinez "INSTANTLY" won awards and dominated the AL when they switched over, acting as if they were scrubs in the NL. Funny thing was, Vlad had a few years in Montreal (2000, 02) that were arguably better than his 2004 season. Not to mention Pedro had a 213 ERA+ in his final year as an Expo in 1997, winning the NL CYA. Pedro's ERA+ his first year in Boston? 163 and he finished 2nd in the CYA voting.

Good lord. Did you have to mention TrueNiners? Was he the one that was convinced that Barry Bonds did not do steroids?

 

[podsox]

didn't cliff lee have a crazy yr in one of his contract yrs

 

[steveringo]

Jon Lester delivering greatest free-agent season for pitcher in more than 15 years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Every start is worth another million, maybe more. Jon Lester doesn't think this way, because his parents, and the reality of beating cancer at 22 years old, taught him to savor the moment he's living and not the ones ahead. And yet baseball operates in a universe parallel to the one playing out in the standings column. It is forever stealing glances at crystal balls.

If the Oakland A's maximize their rotation – and they didn't trade for Lester to baby him down the stretch – he's got 10 regular-season starts left, 10 he hopes fare as well as his first 24 this season, 10 in which the goal is to lead the A's to the American League West crown. Ten, perhaps most important, for his arm to stay healthy like it has for all of his 30 years.

Because it's been a long, long time since a starting pitcher's fortunes have broken good in a walk year like Jon Lester's. He turned in his typical ho-hum performance Tuesday night, snapping the eight-game winning streak of baseball's hottest team, the Kansas City Royals, while striking out nine over six innings. Just another outing to add to a tableau that grows prettier by the start and places him not in elite company but atop it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers lavished $147 million on Zack Greinke after a season in which he put up a 3.48 ERA. Lester's is nearly a run lower. The Phillies gave Cliff Lee a $24 million-a-year deal when his Fielding Independent Pitching – a metric that predicts future performance as well as any using strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed – led the league. Lester's this year is even better. His ERA and FIP top CC Sabathia's in the wake of his remarkable stretch run with Milwaukee in 2008, destroy those of Barry Zito before his $126 million contract and best all the second-tier pitchers who got paid: Anibal Sanchez and John Lackey and A.J. Burnett and C.J. Wilson. Even the pitcher expected to fetch more in free agency than Lester, Detroit ace and reigning Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, trails Lester in ERA and FIP.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/jon-le...-pitcher-in-more-than-15-years-061727621.html

didn't cliff lee have a crazy yr in one of his contract yrs

Yep.

 

[navamind]

Roger Clemens had himself a fine 1996 season, despite what Duquette was saying about him. His ERA (3.63) and WHIP (1.33) don't look that great, but his ERA was actually 7th best in the AL (his ERA+ was 5th). His WHIP was also 7th in the AL that year. The Red Sox defense was also pretty terrible. They were tied for last place in the majors with the Tigers at -77 Total Zone Runs. A's were 28th at -53.

Clemens only gave up 0.3 HR/9 and finished 2nd in the AL in WAR (7.7), behind only Pat Hentegen.

 

[redseat]

Clemens only gave up 0.3 HR/9 and finished 2nd in the AL in WAR (7.7), behind only Pat Hentegen.

And who could have forgotten/never heard of Pat Hentegen