Cubs' Jon Lester: Rename World Series Trophy Following Rob Manfred's Comments

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred calling the World Series trophy "a piece of metal" has not gone over well with some players.

Count Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester among them. 

"That's someone that has never played our game," the three-time World Series champion told reporters Tuesday. "You play for a reason. You play for that piece of metal. I'm very proud of the three that I have. If that's the way he feels, then he needs to take his name off his trophy."

Manfred was speaking to ESPN's Karl Ravech about the aftermath of the Houston Astros' 2017 sign-stealing scandal. The Astros were found to have used in-game technology to illegally steal opponents' signs and relay to batters what pitch was incoming en route to winning the 2017 World Series:

The commissioner punished the organization with a $5 million fine and unpaid year-long suspensions for manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeffrey Luhnow, who were both promptly fired by the Astros. Manfred has been widely criticized for granting players involved immunity and for not stripping Houston of the championship despite finding the sign-stealing scheme was "player-driven."

Manfred discussed the idea of forcing the Astros to vacate the title and return the Commissioner's Trophy with Ravech: 

"A big topic of conversation between me and my senior staff. ... It has never happened in baseball. ... The idea of an asterisk or asking for a piece of metal back seems like a futile act. People will always know that something was different about the 2017 season, and whether we made that decision right or wrong, we undertook a thorough investigation, and had the intestinal fortitude to share the results of that investigation, even when those results were not very pretty."

Los Angeles Dodgers veteran All-Star Justin Turner, who lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros in seven games, passionately disagreed with Manfred:

Washington Nationals reliever Sean Dolittle, who won the 2019 World Series over the Astros, didn't appreciate Manfred's perception of the trophy either.

"It bothered me, man," he told reporters. "I hated it. ...  I just can't believe how out of touch that is. You're the commissioner of our game. You're the steward of this game. That's a really special thing. It's an iconic symbol of our game. Please don't say that, even off-hand, even tongue-in-cheek."

The blowback from the Astros' cheating scandal has reverberated in many different directions. Players league-wide are expectedly upset with Houston but doubly upset that players were not punished by the league. Even LeBron James sent a message to Manfred on Twitter Tuesday:

Players have even openly discussed retaliating against Astros players on the field. Newly hired Astros manager Dusty Baker publicly asked for MLB to "try to put a stop to this seemingly premeditated retaliation" against Astros players as the new season begins, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.

It's clear the anger at both Manfred and the Astros isn't going away any time soon.