Is Jon Lester a Hall of Famer? As much as I love Jon Lester - I would have to say NO.
People are making the argument for Lester because of his postseason heroics. He was a stud on three World Series Championship teams (two in Boston and one in Chicago). He was a cancer survivor and all-around good guy. Hard not to root for him.
I love Jon Lester and the way the Red Sox treated him as they parted ways was when I started to get disenchanted with the organization. If the organization didn't lowball Lester (initial offer of $70 million 4-years when he ended up signing for $155 million over six) and had offered him a fair deal he'd have never left Boston. But in 2014 owner John Henry didn't want to invest long term in a 31-year old pitcher.
He pitched another 7 seasons after leaving Boston and now people are making arguments about if he's a Hall of Famer. If he does get in - I hope he wears a Cubs hat.
He was right to retire if he feels he just doesn't have it anymore. However, a couple more pretty good seasons might have made for an interesting HOF argument. I agree with you that his career falls just short of HOF level, but if he were elected, he wouldn't be worst SP in the Hall
ReplyDeleteIf he got elected before Curt Schilling then I'd be all done caring about the Hall of Fame. Sure many other fans agree.
ReplyDeleteThe Baseball Hall of Fame is in danger of becoming the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
ReplyDeleteCurt Schilling should be in for the bloody sock game alone. Not to mention his post season record. I hope he gets in some day. John should at least be considered because of his leadership overall and specifically on the three World Series championship teams, two with the red sox and one with the Cubs.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the Baseball Hall of Fame is the people entrusted with voting. Sportswriters are generally the bottom of the journalism pool, and Lord knows that's not very deep these days.
ReplyDeleteChris - you hit the nail on the head. Dan Shaughnessy, perhaps the laziest and most incompetent of sportswriters, submitted a ballot this year with just a single name - Jeff Kent. These clowns do that so they can get a column out of it and have people talk about them instead of the players.
ReplyDeleteShaughnessy is a piece of shit.