The Braves will meet Thursday with free agent pitcher Jon Lester in Atlanta, which is only about 30 minutes from the ace left-hander’s offseason home.
That proximity and a mutual interest that the Braves and Lester have had for years are reasons the team will at least gauge the viability of a bid for Lester. This despite Braves president of baseball operations John Hart saying previously the team didn’t didn’t plan to pursue any of the top-tier free agent pitchers this offseason.
Lester is definitely in the top tier, and expected to command a long-term deal worth more than $20 million annually.
Lester is being pursued by at least a half-dozen teams, with the Cubs, Blue Jays and his longtime former team, the Red Sox, expected to engage in a bidding war that some believe will push the price tag closer to $25 million annually. He’ll be 31 in January and had one of his best seasons in 2014, going 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA and 220 strikeouts in 219 2/3 innings. That included 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts for Oakland after being traded by the Red Sox.
The Braves shaved about $11 million in payroll for 2015 with the trade Monday that sent outfielder Jason Heyward and reliever Jordan Walden to the Cardinals for starting pitcher Shelby Miller and pitching prospect Tyrell Jenkins.
They still wouldn’t seem to have enough room in their payroll to add more than $20 million annually for another pitcher, but if Lester were willing to take slightly less to live at home all year, and/or the Braves worked out a backloaded deal coinciding with the move to their new ballpark in 2017 and the increased revenue streams they expect to come with that move, then perhaps Atlanta could become serious bidders for Lester and Thursday’s meeting might be more than just a courtesy or due diligence on the Braves’ part.
Miller will join the incumbent starting trio of Julio Teheran and lefties Alex Wood and Mike Minor to give the Braves a potentially formidable rotation. Lester in the other remaining spot would push it from formidable to one of baseball’s top-rated rotations.
