Cubs Rumors: San Francisco Giants have interest in Jon Lester

Former Cubs lefty Jon Lester is drawing interest from the San Francisco Giants.

While there was stated interest in a reunion between the Chicago Cubs and Jon Lester, that hardly precludes the three-time World Series champion from shopping around in free agency. According to Jon Morosi, the San Francisco Giants – who had intense interest in Lester before he signed with the Cubs ahead of the 2015 season – are once again eyeing the left-hander.

Now, Lester is far from the pitcher he was heading into 2015. But he still brings a lot to the table in terms of experience and veteran leadership. He’s coming off a rather lackluster showing this year, during which he made a dozen starts and limped to a 5.14 FIP/5.16 ERA and a career-worst 1.6 HR/9 mark.

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Lester turns 37 in January and no one really knows just how much he has left in the tank. It’s hard to imagine him getting any more than a one-year deal next season. As for the Giants, though, it sounds like this is exactly the type of pitcher they have their eye set on this offseason.

“It’s going to be a market where a lot of players are going to be looking to do short-term, make-good deals to re-enter the market,” said Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. “For us, the cases of the guys we signed last year and the pitching infrastructure we’ve built up the last couple of years will be a strong selling point for us for those kinds of targets.”

It’s also worth thinking aloud as to whether or not the Cubs’ stance on Lester has changed given the new leadership in the front office. Obviously, Jed Hoyer knows Lester as well as Theo Epstein did, but perhaps Hoyer has different ideas about what his pitching staff will look like next season.

Chicago returns National League Cy Young finalist Yu Darvish and right-hander Kyle Hendricks atop the rotation. From there, though, it’s a lot of speculation and question marks. Alec Mills and Adbert Alzolay will get the opportunity to claim a spot in the rotation next spring, but the team needs more depth – and that’s not up for debate.

“I know there is some doubt as far as the money that’s out there but I would like to think we can definitely get this thing done,” Lester said earlier this offseason regarding a return to Chicago. “I think it’s going to be a long offseason for everybody.”

The next week or so will be critical for the Cubs, as we approach the non-tender deadline. In the meantime, expect Lester to keep drawing interest. After all, we’re talking about one of the best big-game hurlers in the history of Major League Baseball.