Pirates Trade Rumors Jon Lester AM Update

Jul 30, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester (31) jogs off the field prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Jon Lester is still available as the Major League Non-Waiver Trade Deadline. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics are two teams who are closely linked to the Boston Red Sox ace. The A’s picked up Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel who has been just awful since going to the Oakland Coliseum.

The A’s still have talented prospects and if the new market inefficiency is the overvaluation of prospects as we discussed in this post, the A’s could make some serious waves in #LesterWatch.

Jon Heyman wrote about the A’s appearance as the (cue the music) mystery team yesterday. Oakland has plenty of pitching including Tommy Milone who may be of interest to Boston.

The deadline is at 4 p.m. EST today. The headline from the Boston Herald is below:

Herald sports page, July 31, 2014: End near for Jon Lester, John Lackey at trade deadline?http://t.co/PthQbAmD6j pic.twitter.com/nSBGjY3Unh
— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) July 31, 2014

Teams that have been linked have been the Cardinals, Dodgers, Orioles, Brewers and the Bucs. Last night it was said to be down to the Dodgers and Pirates, but reports came out that L.A. was reluctant to deal some top prospects–Corey Seager, Joc Pederson or Julio Urias.

Earlier this morning legendary reporter Peter Gammons said the Dodgers are out of the Lester sweepstakes.

Peter Gammons tells the show you can take the Dodgers off the list of teams in on Lester.
— Mut at Night (@MutAtNightWEEI) July 31, 2014

Yesterday, the Cards added Justin Masterson, and reports out of St. Louis say that the Cardinals are sticking byOscar Taveras. The story says it’s now the GM’s job to get skipper Mike Matheny to play him. The challenge for the Cards, who were blown out by the Padres on the eve of the deadline has been scoring runs.

"Unless we start scoring more runs, it wouldn’t matter if we put Cy Young out there. Mike Matheny"

The challenge for the Cards is scoring runs.

The challenge for the Pirates has been plating runners who reach base as the club leads the lead in OBP. The challenge for the Pirates in the Lester sweepstakes may be not outbidding themselves as it appears the teams actually willing to give up what the Sox demand are vanishing as the deadline pressure mounts.

We have all the Pirates trade rumors here.

It must suck for this day to finally come for Boston.

Jon Lester headlines in today’s Boston Herald.

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