Another offer to Jon Lester coming?

— -- BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox are continuing "conversations" that could lead to another offer to free-agent-to-be Jon Lester, according to a major league source.

Presumably, those conversations are taking place at the ownership level, at which Boston's big-money decisions are always made. The source, however, said he wouldn't make any predictions regarding the outcome.

All along, Lester has added a caveat to his preference that the Red Sox not reopen talks until after the season. He said it last month in New York after he outdueled Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka.

"If they make an offer that's right there [at market value]," Lester said then, "yeah, then maybe something can get done."

The realist in Lester says that the window at the All-Star break isn't long enough to bridge the gap between the club's offer in the spring (four years, $70 million) and what he believes he should be paid, even factoring in any kind of "hometown discount."

Boston's initial offer was far below market value in both dollars and years, although the presumed sticking point is expected, in the end, to be the length of the deal. One way the Red Sox could strike a middle ground is to offer Lester an attention-grabbing amount closer to, say, $30 million a year than to $17 million, for three years, perhaps with an option for a fourth year.

Asked if the Red Sox would make another offer to Lester over the break, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington answered, "I can't say. We're going to honor the commitment we made not to talk about this publicly. We're also trying to honor and respect his desire not to talk about this publicly and become a distraction."

Cherington also said that the Red Sox's place in the standings (they're last in the AL East) didn't impact their desire to retain Lester.

"We've had interest in signing him going back to last offseason in March and still do. Everyone knows that," Cherington said. "I think that process is guided by things we see and think about a player. We certainly see him as part of making us good."

Assuming he stays healthy, Lester, 30, would then be in position to enter the free-agent market again, although with considerably less leverage at age 34. And given that Detroit's Max Scherzer this past spring rejected a six-year, $144 million offer from the Tigers to re-sign, Lester could well decide that offer still is far below what he could make on the open market.