Lester arrives amid high hopes on eve of A’s debut
Southpaw set to face Royals day after arrival from Boston, deflects questions on future
OAKLAND, CALIF.— Jon Lester walked through the Oakland clubhouse doors to quite a greeting, from the snappy, patriotic marching tune blaring from the sound system to handshakes and hellos from every corner.
And even the familiar friendly face of his former pitching coach in Boston, Curt Young.
Lester joined baseball’s winningest team, the small-budget Oakland Athletics, who are counting on him to be an instant ace in a rotation full of No. 1 starters.
“Obviously leaving Boston after being there for so long is at times difficult, but to be going from a team that hasn’t done so well this year to a team with the best record in baseball is pretty exciting,” he said Friday. “Fortunately I’ve got a few faces here that I recognize and know pretty well, so it should make the transition pretty smooth.”
The all-star left-hander (10-7) will make his A’s debut Saturday at the Coliseum against Kansas City, pitching on seven days’ rest. He is 4-0 with a1.07 ERA over his last eight outings. For Lester, just knowing where he will be for the rest of the season was comforting a day after being traded along with outfielder Jonny Gomes to the two-time reigning AL West champions for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. On Saturday, 10,000 Cespedes T-shirts will still be distributed. “I’m a marketing department’s worst nightmare,” A’s GM Billy Beane said. Lester is committed to doing his part every fifth day for a franchise poised for another October playoff run if things keep going this well over the season’s final two months. “Kind of the anxiety of it, not really knowing where you’re going to be and having a family makes it difficult,” Lester said. “To leave some place I’ve called home for eight years, that made it a little bit hard, but like I said I’m happy to be here.” While Lester and Young already know each other well, Gomes’s presence should help Lester adjust, too. The outfielder was a fan favourite in 2012 as the A’s stunned the Texas Rangers on the season’s final day to grab the division crown and end a five-year playoff drought. An A’s team Lester praises for being “full of energy, they play the game the right way,” is hardly one he considers to be in need of much help the way this season has gone so far in a muchimproved AL West. Yet Oakland’s brass — and the players, too — believe the addition of Lester gives them a better chance of advancing in the post-season following consecutive five-game division series defeats to the Detroit Tigers.
“Not only is this guy well decorated in climbing the totem pole of lefthanders in the game and left-handers in the post-season in the game,” Gomes said. “You guys don’t get to see the work ethic . . . It truly is a breath of fresh air to know the best pitcher on the team is also the hardest working guy on the team.”
Lester said he has no idea what lies beyond the 2014 season, when his contract expires after failed talks with the Red Sox on an extension.
“Any time you negotiate with a team and it doesn’t go the way everybody wants, I think there’s always going to be disappointment,” Lester said. “That’s not to say the effort wasn’t there on both sides to try to get something done. . . . We’ll see where that relationship goes later on. Right now, I’m an A.”