Lester Deal Sends Giants, Red Sox Scrambling and Scherzer and Boras Smiling

SAN DIEGO — Things turned more wild within hours of Jon Lester beelining it to the Chicago Cubs than the monkey exhibits in the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

How wild?

Super agent Scott Boras referenced Peyton Manning on Wednesday, claimed Max Scherzer actually turned down even more money from the Detroit Tigers than previously reported, the Los Angeles Dodgers made a flurry of trades positioning them for a potential blockbuster with the Phillies for ace Cole Hamels and Philadelphia unloaded its all-time hits leader, Jimmy Rollins, in a trade to the Dodgers.

Yeah, baby, the Hot Stove is cooking now.

The Lester deal, as expected, pushed the pitching market into action—both free agents and those nudged onto the trading block.

And lest you think things are all serious after Lester (get it? Lest and Lester? Hahaha…um, maybe the lack of sleep here is kicking in?), Boras unloaded the quip of the day in a midafternoon media scrum when he commented on the Chicago Cubs’ return to signing veterans after three years of rebuilding.

“Much like swimming pools, when there’s too many kids in the pool, it changes the color of the water,” Boras cracked.

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The temperature of the pitching market at the meetings here in San Diego turned from tepid to hot in the aftermath of Lester.

With Lester off the table, James Shields is expected to become a top target of the Boston Red Sox and, possibly, the San Francisco Giants. Both clubs swung hard in Lester’s direction—and whiffed.

“I don’t have a good answer for you, except you huddle up and talk about players you want to pursue,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said when asked where the world champions—who also lost Pablo Sandoval last month—go from here. “He was a priority. We spend a lot of time on that.

“Now we have to regroup and see what we’re going to do.”

The timing of Boras’ visit to the Grand Hyatt lobby midafternoon Wednesday was not a random coincidence. He usually pops out for a briefing toward the end of each winter meetings week, like clockwork, similar to Punxsutawney Phil each Feb. 2.

With Lester out of the way, now comes the stumping for Scherzer. Boras dropped several hints the right-hander will look for a record deal that could exceed those of the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw ($215 million) and the Tigers’ Justin Verlander ($180 million). With Brandon McCarthy agreeing to terms with the Dodgers Wednesday night, Boras' wheels surely were turning. The New York Yankees rotation is highly questionable. With McCarthy off the board, I don't know how the Yankees can afford to not make a run at Scherzer.

The agent said Lester’s deal essentially has nothing to do with Scherzer.

“No, no, no,” Boras told a throng of reporters. “Max is kind of a Peyton Manning, No. 1 type of guy. He’s always on the information train to improve himself and evaluate his market.

“Last year, he turned down a deal for seven years and $160 million.”

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Previously, the Tigers’ offer had been reported to be seven years and $144 million.

“He looked at the markets,” Boras said. “We have a new revenue structure in the game. We’re well over $9 billion, and he really wanted to have the opportunity for choice, to see what teams were interested in him.

“Going into this, we knew there really wasn’t going to be any other pitcher who would impact his free-agent pursuit.”

Whatever the Scherzer market will be, and those negotiations likely will drag into the new year, it remains far from defined.

The Red Sox are still in serious need of an ace. But given that their final offer to Lester was $132 million over six years, according to Bleacher Report sources, they would seem to have no stomach for stepping into Scherzer’s neighborhood.

But their desperation is evident, as moves for Wade Miley, Rick Porcello and Justin Masterson proved on Thursday. Clay Buchholz was the only member of Boston's rotation who had thrown more than 102 innings in a big league season before this wave of pitching maneuvers. Porcello is no slouch, but the question still remains, who will be a true No. 1?

As for Hamels, he’s owed $94 million through 2018, or $114 million through 2019 if his option year kicks in. Though his no-trade clause includes Boston, sources say Hamels likely would waive it, and it especially is believed he would waive it if the Red Sox pick up the ’19 option.

But it is the Dodgers who now appear poised to make a serious run at Hamels after scooping up four prospects from the Miami Marlins Wednesday afternoon in exchange for second baseman Dee Gordon and starter Dan Haren. Those four are highly thought-of left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney, right-hander Chris Hatcher, second baseman Enrique Hernandez and catcher Austin Barnes.

The Dodgers immediately flipped Heaney to the Angels for second baseman Howie Kendrick. They also signed McCarthy to a four-year, $48 million deal, according to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.

McCarthy slots into the rotation in place of Haren. And by unloading both Gordon and Haren, the Dodgers will save approximately $12.5 million in salary.

That Los Angeles managed to collect both prospects and extra salary Wednesday could aid an effort to add Hamels to a rotation that already starts with National League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.

Another reason Hamels makes sense for the Dodgers: Greinke’s contract includes an opt-out clause after the 2015 season.

But as clubs like the Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers and others scrambled to position themselves for help in a post-Lester free-agent market, there are plenty of trade options other than Hamels.

The Cincinnati Reds, amid industry speculation that they are cutting payroll, could still deal ace Johnny Cueto or Mike Leake after trading both Alfredo Simon and Mat Latos on Thursday. The Washington Nationals have taken calls on Jordan Zimmermann, though a source with knowledge of Washington’s thinking tells Bleacher Report that the club would have to be blown away with an offer to move its ace. The New York Mets’ Dillon Gee also could go.

Meanwhile, as the San Diego Padres continue searching for a couple of bats, general manager A.J. Preller told reporters that he had “definitely received more phone calls about our pitching depth” on Wednesday since Lester agreed to terms with the Cubs. The Padres are reluctant to trade any of their front three—Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner or Ian Kennedy—but have young starting depth.

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In the meantime, as the prowling continued, Boras kicked back, smiled and prepared to open shop.

“Acquiring a No. 1 pitcher has been a link to the success of a franchise,” he said. “These types of contracts are ownership decisions. They affect whether or not a team is a championship-caliber team. They affect attendance and media rights values and the values of franchises.

“They’re market-impactful decisions.”

He noted that five of the past eight World Series winners were Boston and San Francisco, and they fielded teams with elite starting pitchers Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Lester, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner.

Somewhere, Lester is checking Chicago real estate, and Max Scherzer is smiling real big.

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. He has over two decades of experience covering MLB, including 14 years as a national baseball columnist at CBSSports.com.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball @ScottMillerBbl.