According to Giants Assistant GM Bobby Evans, the Giants have been informed that Jon Lester will not be pitching for San Francisco next season. In fact, he rather cleverly stated that the Giants "did not receive a rose." from Lester.
Evans had said earlier in the day that he got the sense that the Giants were not going to be Lester's choice, and in fact, the Giants reportedly were never given the chance to make their final offer. Lester personally called the Giants to thank them for their interest. The Giants are disappointed, but will have to cry themselves to sleep clutching the three World Series trophies they've won in the past five seasons.
Officially, this leaves Lester's choice between three teams, but the Dodgers are seen as a longshot and no one knows how serious they've been anyway. Pretty much every account says that Lester's decision is between the Red Sox and Cubs. On the one hand, the Red Sox have the advantage of familiarity. On the other hand, it was the Cubs brain trust of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer who drafted and developed him through the Red Sox system. Additionally, there may have been some bad feelings between Lester and the Red Sox from their lowball contract offers last season and the way they traded him off to Oakland. Boston owner John Henry reportedly personally flew down to Atlanta to make a pitch to Lester and presumably smooth things over.
Lester will make his decision later tonight. Or tomorrow. Or sometime this week. Or before Christmas. But he will make a decision.
Use this thread to obsess about Lester or any other Winter Meetings events you want to discuss.