I Want To Punch A Wall After Reading How Much The Washington Nationals Are Paying Jon Lester

I know I got all romantic and poetic on Jonny Boy last night and I'd be remiss to start this blog without referencing that work. Shameless self promotion is my proverbial 7-iron. 

The big takeaway is I will always love Jon Lester and he will always be a special person to me. Blah blah blah. This isn't rocket science guys. We're talking about respecting and loving a man who gave 6 hard years to the Chicago Cubs. Literally you couldn't ask much less from me. This is what I'm here for. 

But lost in the shuffle of my emotions was the actual contract details. When news broke Lester signed with the Nationals, it was easy to compartmentalize the pain. It's time to move on and this is exactly that: Jon Lester moving on to the Nationals. 

But then we come back just a little later to find out Tom Ricketts didn't have 5 million dollars for the goodbye tour? Are we brain dead on the North Side or would Lester take less to stay home? At this point I don't think he could be forced to care about a World Series any more than his kids' little league championships. He's a shoe in for the HOF and just wants to keep competing. This next year and remaining years thereafter have literally nothing to do with Jon Lester proving something to himself. All he wants to do is close his career out in front of fans and be on an MLB team with the boys. 

And yet despite this simple request, the Cubs are only interested in saving money right now. Even if its money that could be invested in a Farewell Campaign that would offset the salary. Lester merch + some commemorative shit would make a killing. Ticket sales as his career comes to an end. Liquor sales. Maybe a special event to say goodbye. Point is you can make a couple million off of Jon Lester's last year in Wrigley, and the Cubs just completely passed. Probably because the person who would be managing the campaign got fired last year in the mass layoffs. 

And not to pile on, but Lester called the Cubs and said he wanted to stay. He DID NOT want to sign with Washington. He wanted to retire a Cubs and live out the rest of his natural baseball days going to Wrigley. Unfortunately, our leadership can't accommodate his request because simply put we don't have the resources. Honestly one of the most disgusting and embarrassing days for the Cubs since winning a championship. 

I'll survive and move on because I don't have a choice. This is my team and right now they're a bunch of over-leveraged chumps that are about to sell us the worst pitching staff in the NL for 2021. Top to bottom, the absolute fucking worst. 

On the bright side, maybe Lester's lucky he won't have spend any time around a bunch of bums next year. Maybe it's better in the long-run if he doesn't have to endure that pain of impossibly awful pitching. Maybe just maybe the most respected active pitcher in baseball is better off in a place that actually wants him. 

Damn shame that's not the Cubs right now. But s we've learned this year. That's life. 

Deal with it.