MLB Chicago Cubs

Jon Lester Should Strongly Consider Signing With Chicago Cubs

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By @ziggy26x

Jon Lester Oakland Athletics

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For many baseball fans the MLB offseason is a lot more interesting than the regular season, as there are always a lot of players moving in free agency and teams are extremely active when it comes to trading players. This offseason one of the best players available is left-handed pitcher Jon Lester of the Oakland Athletics.

It was very shocking that the Athletics made the move to bring in Lester, as they sent Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox with a year left on his contract. Oakland knew when making the trade that there was no chance of being able to retain Lester once free agency came around.

The Athletics’ quest for a World Series title came up short after they struggled badly following the trade for Lester, and they would then be knocked out of the playoffs by the Kansas City Royals with Lester on the mound.

2014 was a very good season for Lester, as with the Red Sox and the Athletics he went 16-11 with an ERA of 2.46 and 220 strikeouts. Lester has made his name as a great postseason pitcher, but 2014 was by far his best year in the regular season.

As expected Lester has hit free agency and will be drawing a lot of interest from many teams. Lester will have the luxury of having his choice of where to go, as the money will be there no matter where he goes. When he was traded from the Red Sox he wouldn’t rule out going back there after his quick stint with Athletics, but it could be his former general manager that may make another team very appealing to Lester.

Theo Epstein, who was the Red Sox’s former GM, has been with the Cubs the past few seasons, and although the Cubs haven’t seen a great win/loss record, they do have some of the best prospects in baseball who are ready to make the move to the majors.

Chicago has a ton of young talent on offense, but for them to make the next step, adding an ace like Lester to the front of the rotation would go a long way in improving the team. Within the last week, Epstein has brought aboard former Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon for a five-year, $25 million deal, so some of that money the Cubs have is starting to be spent as Epstein seems to think his team is close.

Lester should strongly consider heading to Chicago, as they are putting together a good team and he could get a lot of credit to go along with money for helping lead the Cubs back into the playoffs after years of losing seasons.

Nick Ziegler is a New York Jets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ziggy26x and add him to your network on Google.

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