They Want Lester And More

Would you give up Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester, plus a minor leaguer to land Johan Santana? Apparently, that's the dilemma facing Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox.

Initially, they told the Twins they could have either guy, plus mid-level prospects, but not both. Based on Boston's current situation, I'm inclined to think they should cave and give Minnesota what they want. And here's why.

As Curt Schilling wrote on his blog, a 1-2 punch of Santana and Beckett would give the Sox a feared, dynasty-worthy rotation for the rest of this decade and well into the next one. Johan turns 29 in March and Beckett turns 28 in May. These guys are in the midst of their best years right now. As for the short-term, you also have Schilling coming back for one more year, plus the ageless Tim Wakefield at the back end of the rotation. And in the long-term, Dice-K turns 28 next season and even if they give up Lester, they still have Clay Buchholz, who turns just 24 late next season (he's actually 8 months younger than Lester). In other words, their rotation could be Santana, Beckett, Dice-K, Buchholz until 2010, or beyond. There are exactly zero other teams whose pitching outlook would be as promising for the rest of the 00's.

That's not even factoring in the added bonus of keeping Santana away from the enemy- New York. Needless to say, this would be huge as well. And offensively, while there's no question Ellsbury provided Boston with an offensive spark late last season, let's not forget he only had 116 AB's in 2007. The Sox won a bunch of games without him and without a healthy Manny Ramirez or a productive Kevin Youkilis. With the emergence of Dustin Pedroia and a bounce-back year from Youk, the top of their order would be just fine and so would the middle.

A lot can happen in the days ahead and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Yankees flip-flop on their already-passed "Monday deadline" if there's still a chance they can land, arguably, the most coveted pitcher in baseball history. I just don't see how the Sox pass on this offer.

Why Lester Is More...Than Just A Good Pitcher

He also has a pretty fantastic story and he's going to get the chance to prove he belongs in the Red Sox starting rotation tomorrow night in Cleveland.

Jon Lester, as many baseball fans know, was diagnosed with cancer 11 months ago. Luckily it was a treatable form of lymphoma, known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma. So after a very promising 2006 campaign where he started off 5-0, his season came to an abrupt and frightening end. He underwent treatment from September all the way through the end of December, when doctors pronounced him "cancer-free." He's spent the last 7 months getting himself back into baseball shape. And now, this 23-year-old, who is still considered a top prospect, has a renewed outlook on life.

"Before, I took everything very seriously when it came to baseball. It's what I do, and it's my job," he said. "Now that I've realized it can be taken away, I'm definitely going to enjoy things a little more, not take the little things so seriously, just go out and enjoy them."

Manager Terry Francona openly admits he's going to be pulling for Lester Monday night.

"I wouldn't apologize to be crazy about a kid like Lester -- I'd be crazy not to," he said.

And I'd be willing to bet he's not the only one.