Jon Lester has four offers on the table for at least six years and $150 million. The San Francisco Giants are one of those teams involved who are eager for his decision. Aside from Lester, another free agent left-hander is garnering interest from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With negotiations reportedly stalling due to the competition to sign Lester, the left-hander is now expected to make his decision by Wednesday. The Giants are battling with the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers to land him and, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, are "more optimistic than 24 hours ago" that he'll choose them. Nightengale also noted the Giants met with Lester's representation for almost two hours on Sunday.
FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported on Monday that Lester had narrowed down his choices to the Giants and Cubs, but that report was refuted shortly thereafter by the left-hander's agent. If Rosenthal's report is true, the Giants should be optimistic because they've won three World Series titles over the past five seasons and have Madison Bumgarner, one of the best starters in the MLB, compared to the Cubs who haven't won a World Series since 1908. However, Rosenthal also noted one of the bidders was willing to increase their offer to seven years and $175 million. Luckily for the other three teams, one source said Lester wouldn't merely choose that team for the money.
Buster Posey was present for one of the meetings with Lester and the Giants' executives, which may have helped the team's case in the sweepstakes. We'll know by tomorrow at the latest where he decides to play for the next six or seven years of his career.
But other left-handers are on the free agent market, so by focusing on Lester we're forgetting about others who could help a starting rotation. One of those pitchers is Francisco Liriano, who turned down the Pittsburgh Pirates' qualifying offer. Earlier in the offseason he made it known he wanted a three-to-four year contract with a $12 million annual salary after earning just $7 million over the past two seasons.
According to Robert Murray of MLB Daily Rumors, the Pirates were close to re-signing the left-hander earlier today and now the two sides have reached an agreement on a three-year, $39 million deal. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports confirmed the deal as well. Over the past two seasons, Liriano has a 23-18 record with the Pirates to go along with a 3.20 ERA in 55 starts. He'll re-join the Pirates rotation that consists of Gerrit Cole, Vance Worley, Jeff Locke and A.J. Burnett.
