Lester's No Hitter Validates Decision Not to Trade for Santana . . . For Now

Jon Lester has completely validated, for one night at least, Red Sox management’s decision to back off their pursuit of Johan Santana this past off-season and keep him in the fold for 2008. In reality, it will most likely take a couple of years to say for certain whether or not Boston made the right move to hang on to the young lefty, but after Lester blew his 130^th and final pitch, a 96 mph fastball, past Royals batter Alberto Callaspo to complete his no hitter, it has to make Theo Epstein very hopeful for the future.

Truth be told, I was one who was of the opinion that the Red Sox should have given up Lester to acquire Santana. For me, like some others, Lester seemed more likely to be an ordinary middle of the rotation guy than the future Cy Young candidate that Boston pitching coach John Farrell was adamant he would become. Lester seemed to always nibble at the corners and his lack of command left him frequently falling behind hitters. He walked too many batters (74 in 144 innings entering this season) and his outings were typically done after five innings at most as his pitch counts rose as fast as gas prices. These types of performances certainly aren’t what you would expect from a pitcher whom the organization is claiming to be a future anchor of the rotation.

Last night was different, though. Last night, Lester went after the hitters and was efficient with his pitches. With first pitch strikes delivered to 20 of the 29 batters he faced last night, Lester was able to keep Kansas City hitters on the defensive and allow his mid 90's fastball, boring cutter and sweeping curveball to dominate them all night long. In addition to his nine strikeouts, Lester induced eleven Royals to hit groundballs. Even as the cheers from the sell out crowd became louder and louder, he still exhibited the same poise he showed while shutting out the Colorado Rockies for 5 2/3 innings in the clinching game of the 2007 World Series. This is the kind of ability the Red Sox have believed that Lester has had all along, and last night we all finally got to see it.

Still only 24 years old, Lester is at an age where even the top pitchers only just begin to appear in the Major Leagues. Even though this is his third season in the Majors, Lester still has a lot of room to grow and plenty to learn about pitching. It is obvious he has Major League stuff, now he just needs to learn how to take advantage of it. He looks as if he has finally recovered his strength following his recovery from cancer and has also added a changeup to his repertoire. Manager Terry Francona, along with Farrell, insist that Lester is still going to get better. Now that his velocity is back up to where it was before he got sick, Lester should be able to combine an explosive fastball with a big curveball and begin to rack of the kind of strikeout numbers that more closely resemble what he did in the minor leagues.

Seeing Lester pour strike after strike past Kansas City hitters last night has given me renewed hope that he could be the pitcher Boston envisions him to be. Time will tell if the Red Sox made the right move to hold onto him instead of trading for Santana, but Lester’s historic night could prove to be phenomenal jumping off point.