Jon Lester

Tom Verducci has a piece on si.com touching on Manny's annual blowup and calling attention to the string of great starts Jon Lester has put together. On the Manny front, I can't help but wonder why people care so much. This isn't exactly a shocking development - it's happened almost every year Manny has been in Boston. When Manny's on the field, he performs, and his fight for 4 years / 100 million can only help the Red Sox down the stretch. I think the chances of Manny staying in Boston next year are better than 50/50, but Peter Gammons disagrees.

Though Tom Verducci is one of my least favorite national baseball writers, his take on Jon Lester is worth reading. The bulk of his argument is a waste of space - single game performance doesn't tell you about a pitchers prospects - but there are some good nuggets. The comparison with Andy Pettitte is legitimate (and surprisingly robust). If Lester's career mirrored Pettitte's, Red Sox fans should be pretty happy. Over the last six weeks, Lester has showed that type of growth. He's been a stopper twice in two starts (Yankees, Seattle), and is consistently pitching deeper into games than any other starter. Orel Hershiser was right when he said Lester's growth trajectory over the last three seasons has been off the charts, and Varitek's comment that "he's only 60% of the pitcher he will become," has fans giddy with excitement. This is my favorite Red Sox rotation of my lifetime because of the excitement factor. No matter who's starting, whether its the established vets or young guns, you feel the potential for something special every night.

A post script to this entry: lots of commentators point to Lester's WS clinching victory as one of his major accomplishments. I don't think performance in one game, be it the world series, Yankee Stadium, or the no-hitter, can be grounds for projecting big league success. I was hoping to point to other starting pitchers who clinched recent world series to back this up, and this is the list I found. If there's nothing listed for a year, the clinching game was won by a reliever.

• 2006: Jeff Weaver 8IP


• 2005: Freddy Garcia 7IP


• 2004: Derek Lowe 7IP


• 2003: Josh Beckett 9IP


• 2002: John Lackey 5IP


• 1999: Roger Clemens 7.2IP


• 1998: Andy Pettitte 7.1IP

Going back to 1990, the only other pitchers that fit the criteria are Jimmy Key, Tom Glavine, Jack Morris, and Jose Rijo. Not a bad group at all...