Five winters ago, Jon Lester signed a $155 million deal with the Cubs to come in and lead their pitching staff and help form a winning culture in the clubhouse.
He's done exactly that and been worth every penny of the contract to date.
But as Lester enters what might be the final chapter of his Cubs tenure and just a couple days after his 36th birthday, what is the team expecting from him in 2020?
It's easy to look at Lester's stats from 2019 — league-leading 205 hits allowed, 4.46 ERA, 1.50 WHIP — and believe age is catching up to him and regression has set in.