Jon Lester chooses Chicago Cubs
— -- Free-agent left-hander Jon Lester has elected to sign with the Chicago Cubs, his agent, Seth Levinson, told ESPN's Jim Bowden.
The deal is for six years and $155 million, a source confirmed to ESPNChicago.com's Jesse Rogers. Lester's decision was first reported by FoxSports.com.
New Cubs manager Joe Maddon called Lester's choice "exciting."
"It's not often you get to win the lottery," he said. "We won the baseball lottery so far this year, but now it's up to us to put it into effect. It's all theory right now. We've got to make it real, but you need pieces like this to make it real."
Maddon said he was eager to hear why Lester chose the Cubs.
"He's been [to the World Series] before. He understands what it feels like. I want to believe that he could foresee the same thing happening here," Maddon said.
The manager noted that he said in his opening news conference that he believed the Cubs were a playoff team, but added that he thought the Cubs could contend sooner with the addition of Lester.
"Yeah. It definitely sends that message about how [Cubs president Theo Epstein] and the group feels about this particular group, but understand we have a lot of young players that have to grow up, and we have to do a good job of nurturing that and making it happen," Maddon said. "It's possible, but having Jon there definitely adds to the flavor and the believability."
The 30-year-old left-hander went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA for the Oakland Athletics this past season after he was acquired in a blockbuster trade-deadline deal with the Boston Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Overall, he was 16-11 with a career-best 2.45 ERA in 2014.
He was on the hill for the A's in the American League wild-card game against the Kansas City Royals, and left in the eighth inning with runners on first and second with one out and his team leading 7-4. The Royals eventually won the game 9-8 in 12 innings.
He is noted for his performance in the postseason, in which he has a solid 6-4 record and 2.57 ERA in 14 appearances. He has been dominant in the World Series, where he is 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three starts, helping the Red Sox win two championships.
Lester, who has a career mark of 116-67 with a 3.58 ERA in nine seasons, rejected a four-year, $70 million contract extension offer from the Red Sox in the spring. He was paid $13 million this past season.
