Its official: Jon Lester is now a member of the Chicago Cubs after signing a six-year, $155 million deal. As Scott Miller of Bleacher Reportrecently wrote, the Cubs dreams of finally contending might be here. Exactly for that reason, the Cubs need to make a strong push to sign superstar starting pitcher Max Scherzerat whatever price tag it will cost them.With Lester signing at the $155 million mark, Scherzer is reportedly seeking a contract worth more than $200 million. Evaluating him on the same scale as Lester, he actually deserves the money (if you actually believe anyone deserves $200 million for throwing a baseball).Lester, 30, had the best statistical season of his career in 2014, going 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA and 220 strikeouts as a member of the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics. However, his career numbers are not indicative of an elite pitcher. Lester has gone 116-67 with a 3.58 ERA overall. He has not won a Cy Young Award and has never finished higher than fourth in voting for the positions highest accolade. Not to imply that he isnt one of the best pitchers in the game, but he might have cashed in mostly due to his most recent seasonthe all-important contract year.Quite interestingly, Scherzer, 30, has the same exact career ERA of 3.58, but he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past two seasons. In 2013, he won the AL Cy Young by going an amazing 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, and he had 240 strikeouts in 214.1 innings pitched. This past season, he had another excellent campaign, going 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA and 1.18 WHIP, and he had 252 strikeouts in 220.1 innings pitched. He has been absolutely dominant and has showed no signs of decline.To add, he has proven to be extremely durable over the course of his career, posting at least 30 starts in each of his last six seasons. Hes the best starting pitcher on the market, and everyone knows it, including his agent Scott Boras, who will drive the potential bidding war up as much as possible.A pairing with Lester in Chicago in addition to new vibrant manager Joe Maddon and a slew of promising prospects would be a joy to watch, and it would likely result in a higher total in a win column that has been lower than desired for years and years. Last season, the Cubs went 73-89 overall with a very inexperienced roster and underperforming pitching staff.In fact, Travis Wood led all qualifying Cubs starters with a 5.03 ERA, and Jake Arrieta led the staff with 10 wins. Lester will be an immediate improvement for the rotation, but adding Scherzer would completely transform it.In fact, last season, Scherzer ranked eighth among all MLB pitchers in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for pitchers with a value of 6.0. This essentially means he accounted for six more wins than what a replacement pitcher would produce. To put that into perspective, NL Cy Young and MVP winner Clayton Kershaw led all pitchers with a WAR of 7.5.On a team with budding stars on the offensive end in Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Jorge Soler and arguably Junior Lake and Starlin Castro, the Cubs have also added catcher Miguel Montero, who can serve as a middle-of-the-lineup bat to complement the young prospects.But, as shown in recent years, pitchingand, in particular, pitching in September and beyondis what separates the pretenders and contenders. Last season, Chicagos starters were largely abysmal and demanded far too much run support from an inexperienced lineup. Adding Lester already helped that situation (at least for one out of every five games), but adding Scherzer would virtually mean that the team would receive a quality start at least 40 percent of the time between two All-Star-caliber hurlers.In a likely projected rotation with Lester, Jake Arrieta, Jason Hammel and either KyleHendricks or Travis Wood, Scherzer would add hype to the Windy City that has perhaps not been replicated since Sammy Sosa threatened the all-time single-season home run record between the 1998 and 2001 seasons.The Cubs have to move right now, they have to open their well-funded pockets, and they need to make this signing not only for this season, but for the future of the franchise. Its hard to think that Theo Epstein isn't putting some kind of offer together right now.For a large-market franchise that hasn't won a World Series title since 1908 and hasn't played in a World Series since 1945, history can be made in 2015. The chances of this would be exponentially increased with the signing of Scherzer.
Click here to read full news..
