Veteran left-hander Jon Lester agreed to a one-year deal to join the Washington Nationals, the team announced Wednesday.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Lester, 37, is a three-time World Series champion and five-time All-Star. In Washington, he joins a rotation that includes right-handers Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Scherzer is a seven-time All-Star and a three-time winner of the Cy Young Award.
In 15 MLB seasons, first with the Boston Red Sox, and a brief stop in Oakland before joining the Chicago Cubs in 2015, Lester is 193-111 with a 3.60 ERA in 424 appearances, with all but one of those a start.
Lester won a pair of World Series titles at Boston in 2007 and 2013 before helping the Cubs to the title in 2016. He was 19-5 for the Cubs during the regular season of their championship year and finished second in the Cy Young voting.
In the 2016 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lester earned MVP honors with a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. He was 1-1 in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians with a 3.68 ERA.
The Nationals won the World Series in 2019 but went 26-34 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season and finished in last place in the NL East.
Lester ranks among active pitchers in wins (third with 193), games started (third, 423), strikeouts (sixth, 2,397), home runs per nine innings (seventh, 0.93), strikeouts per nine innings (10th, 8.30) and ERA (11th, 3.60). He leads active left-handed pitchers in wins and is third in strikeouts. He is seven wins away from becoming the 30th left-handed pitcher in major-league history to record at least 200 career wins.
(Field Level Media)
