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It appears that Jon Lester‘s decision will come down between the World Series winning San Francisco Giants or our very own Chicago Cubs, as reported by MLB on FOX’s Ken Rosenthal on Twitter.
Earlier today before Rosenthal issued out this post, the Cubs signed former Oakland Athletic starter Jason Hammel to a two-year contract ,officially bringing him back to the organization. As we all know, Hammel was dealt to the Athletics along with Jeff Samardzija in exchange for prospect Addison Russell, Dan Straily, and Billy McKinney.
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Recently retired and long-time Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster was also reunited with the franchise after accepting a job with the front-office as Theo Epstein’s assistant. Dempster made it known that he was doing everything he possibly could to talk Lester into joining the Cubs during the off-season. Chicago’s chances to land the veteran left-hander appeared to be a shot in a dark with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and several other teams interested in his services.
Rosenthal also noted this afternoon that the Giants were getting some serious consideration by Lester, which doesn’t necessarily surprise anyone after they just won their third World Series in their last four appearances.
San Francisco recently lost switch-hitting third baseman Pablo Sandoval to the Red Sox, who was also joined by former Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez just hours apart from each other. With plenty of money to spend this off-season and not a whole lot of it being handed out, Chicago’s hefty offer could be bulked up just enough to convince the southpaw to call the North Side of the Windy City home.
Lester’s final decision on where he will land will be announced either later on tonight or Tuesday at the latest.