The Boston Red Sox and general manager Ben Cherington have an interesting decision to make: whether to trade veteran starting pitcher Jon Lester to the Kansas City Royals.
Kansas City is seeking front-line starting pitching help to aid the recent acquisitions of Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie. Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star reports that the Royals may be willing to give up top prospect Wil Myers in exchange for a Jon Lester or a James Shields.
“We’re now at a point in time,” said Royals general manager Dayton Moore, “where we have good young players—as good as any team in baseball. Now, we’ve got to do what we can to support them. Do we trade one of them? I don’t know.”
Trading Lester for Myers would have major implications on the 2013 Red Sox and well into the future as well. It would most certainly be tough to part ways with Lester, who has pitched so well—outside of 2012—over the course of his seven-year career in Boston.
Would Boston be a better team with Myers, though?
Here’s why Cherington should pull the trigger and land one of the best prospects in baseball.