Jon Lester had some words in mind for his critics last year, just before the pandemic took hold. He wasn’t fully ready to use the words yet, not with real oomph behind them. But he knew some felt he was washed up — or maybe on the razor’s edge of it — heading into his sixth season with the Cubs. And he knew his $25 million mutual option with the team for a Year 7 was unlikely to play out in his favor.
Lester didn’t care much about the money part, anyway, not after the Cubs had lavished him with a $155 million contract in the first place.