Five Chicago Cubs doomed to be gone by next season

The Chicago Cubs owe a lot to Jon Lester. He was the first important person in the world to believe in them in terms of free agency. He was already on a Hall of Fame trajectory thanks to his time with the Boston Red Sox where he won multiple rings and he brought it over to the Cubs. He lived up to every bit of hype that surrounded him when he first signed. Theo had him with Boston so you knew that the trust and chemistry would be there.

Lester has a team option on his contract now for 2021 but it is hard to see the Cubs picking it up. They can either pay him 25 million to play for them or 10 million to walk away from the contract. It feels like the Cubs could do a whole lot more with that 15 million that they would save.

The reason that they can do better is that he isn’t the same Jon Lester that we once knew. He pitched in 61.0 innings this season and had a record of 3-3 with a -0.3 WAR. He had a 5.12 ERA and a 1.328 WHIP. His negative value at this point in his career is probably something that the Cubs would rather not have. As good as he has been for them, it is time for both sides to move on.