Jon Lester, no. 31

Since it appears that he'll be around in the spring, I'll move him up from the bottom of the list where he was languishing with Coco and Ellsbury.

Birth Date: January 7, 1984 in Puyallup, WA

Height/Weight: 6'2", 190 lb.

Contract: League Minimum ($390,000)

Lester started last season in Greenville, moved up to Pawtucket in April (where he threw fourteen games with an ERA of 3.89 and a WHIP of 1.37), he was called up to Boston on July 23, then (thanks to Wake's taking himself off the roster because of shoulder problems) he pitched the clinching game of the World Series on October 28. It's damn impressive.

He pitched in twelve games for the Red Sox in 2007. He started eleven of them and won four of them. He threw 63 innings, during which he faced 275 batters. He struck out 50 batters and walked 31. He gave up 61 hits and 33 runs (32 of which were earned.) Ten batters were able to hit home runs off his pitches. He threw one wild pitch and hit one batter with a pitch. His Earned Run Average was high (4.57) but was still below the league average (4.74). His Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched, at 1.460, was also high.

Defensively, he had six put outs and four assists. He was charged with one error. His Fielding Percentage (.909) was above the league average (.952). His Range Factor (1.43), however, was below the league average (1.60). So if the ball was headed right for him he did a pretty good job of getting the out; but if he had to move, then not so much.

He's got both a two-seam and a four-seam fastball that sit in the low nineties but can get up to the mid-nineties. He also has an above average changeup, a curveball in the seventies, and a slider in the mid to high seventies. He generally has very good control but has off-days when he can't seem to command his pitches. He's also inconsistent.

I can see him improving next season (and not just in a homer-ism, Go-Jon-Lester!, sort of way.) I would think that a stark reminder of one's mortality would shake one's confidence some. Plus, chemotherapy is not a pretty affair. With a World Series win under his belt, being trade-bait for the best pitcher in baseball, his confidence should be restored. He was once considered to be a future ace; the future could be very bright.

I don't actually have an opinion on Jon Lester as a person (which is odd because I have an opinion on almost evertyhing.) I suppose he's still sort of in neutral for me (until recently Kevin Youkilis was in the same boat.) I don't love him, he doesn't annoy me, he doesn't make me cringe; he's just sort of there. I realize that he lives for my approval but it's not necessarily a bad thing. His coolness-factor did go up slightly when he said he didn't want to go to Minnesota (I choose to pretend that it was because of the fans.)