For the second night in a row, the baseball community was focused on Chicago after another big deal was announced from MLB’s annual winter meetings. First on Tuesday morning, the White Sox grabbed the headlines by signing free agent closer David Robertson and trading for All-Star pitcher Jeff Samardzija. Overnight on Wednesday, the Cubs grabbed them back by signing free agent pitcher Jon Lester to a six-year deal worth a reported $155 million.
With a new ace on staff, can Cubs fans begin dreaming about the playoffs again?
“This definitely propels us into Plan A, which is kind of neat,” said new Cubs manager Joe Maddon. “It’s not often you get to win the lottery. We won the baseball lottery so far this year. It’s up to us now to put it in effect.”
Throughout the day on Tuesday, it was being reported that Lester was deciding between offers from both the Cubs and the Red Sox. Of course, it was Boston who traded Lester to the A’s last July prior to the trading deadline and it was their hope they could entice him back. Thankfully for Cubs fans, that was not to be.
With the signing of Lester, who will be 31 in January, the Cubs now have a bonafide ace on their starting staff to go along with 2014 surprise Jake Arrietta, as well as Jason Hammel who was re-signed to a two-year contract on Monday. The Cubs have been re-tooling their entire organization for the last three seasons under new management lead by team president Theo Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer. Rock bottom was reached in 2012 when they lost 100 games for the first time since 1966. But slow progress has been made since then, including the accumulation of minor league assets that many publications agree is the best farm system in baseball. Wednesday’s signing of Lester is a strong indication they’re now ready to go for it at the big league level as well.
The Cubs have not made the playoffs since 2008 when they were swept in the NLDS by the Dodgers.
