Palodios

This is the best season of Beckett's career, and the worst full season of Lester's. Ofcourse Beckett's numbers will be better. If you want to go with large sample sizes, go with career numbers Beckett -- 4.05 ERA career with the Red Sox. Lester -- 3.53 ERA career with the Red Sox.

Wait, are we talking about the same Cliff Lee that went 0-2 in the NLCS last year with 9 ER in 11.2 innings?

That's your problem. You're saying Lester is unclutch in the big picture, but using small samples to back up your point. He had an ERA of 0, 1.8 and 3 for the other three starts. See? I can do it too.

Without that one start, he had a 3.41 ERA in September. Boohoo.

Also, way to completely ignore my post.

You're hopeless.

Who cares? None of those games mattered, until it was too late. We're not talking about playoff games, or elimination games, we're talking about games that didn't matter until Mr. Hindsight came along. When the season was on the line, he pumped out a quality start.

Being an ace is about being a stopper when your team is in freefall. That's exactly what he did in April. How was he supposed to know at the beginning of September that his team was going to completely collapse around him?

That 5.40 is dependent solely on one bad start. He pitched his team to a point where they were 9 games up on the wild card. You can't blame him for taking it easy while getting ready for the playoffs-- which was what he was working towards, not a pile of starts in September that seemed meaningless at the time. Every "ace" goes through bad streaks as well. Cliff Lee is 0-3 in his last three playoff starts. Sabathia has had some absolutely terrible starts. Felix Hernandez has NEVER pitched in a high leverage situation so if we're talking about clutch, he shouldn't even be in the conversation. Halladay and Lincecum made their first playoff appearances last year, so its not exactly like its a huge sample size for them either. Wainright has pitched exactly one game as a starter in the playoffs. Face it. Lester had one s***** start. You can't say he's a bad clutch performer based on just that. Look at your list. The majority of them have either small sample sizes, or have pitched only in the NL. Career postseason pitching stats: Lincecum(1 season) 2.43 ERA Cliff Lee (3 seasons ) 2.52 ERA Lester (3 seasons) 2.57 ERA Halladay (2 seasons) 2.70 ERA Beckett (4 seasons) 3.07 ERA Carpenter (4 season) 3.38 ERA Sabathia (5 seasons) 4.78 ERA Wainight(1 game as starter) 1.12 Felix (0 seasons) ----

I explicitly brought up April, and his last September start. Do those not illustrate his ability?

Read what I posted above. I said there are 5-6 guys in the league that are even in the conversation, and you named every single one that I had in mind. You must have a short memory if you think that Lester is not a clutch pitcher. Lester clinched the WS in 2007, and was absolutely lights out against the Angels in 2008. He also broke his April curse this year, in a year when they absolutely needed him to. He went 3-1 in April. THIS April. How can you call that unclutch? He had one truly terrible start this September, and when the Red Sox absolulely needed him to pitch well, on September 28th, the last game of the year, he only gave up two runs.

Woah woah woah. Lester not an ace? Find me 32 pitchers who have been more consistent over the last five years. Trust me, you'll only find 5-6 that are even in the conversation, nevermind BETTER than him, and only one of them pitches in the AL East.

I think it is admirable. This is a guy who defended his guys to the very end. Plus, if he wants another job, it is probably in his best interest to stick to his better traits.

Money, for one. Sure, at 1 million dollars a year, he's making twice as much as most of his players, but a 300% raise couldn't hurt. And an opportunity.

You know who else is a great defensive CF? Jacoby Ellsbury. Have you seen JB's defensive numbers in center this year? They're off the charts. Why spend all this money, when you could get similar production from Kalish/Reddick? If this team gets a platoon RHP OF, they can do better offensively than Coco Crisp.

I think someone else should make it. No sense in giving the Yankees mojo.

Tell that to 1919-2003. You know what, you don't give Theo credit for winning the World Series in 2004... even if the Red Sox win one in 2012 or 2013 without him, wouldn't you need to give Theo credit for building most of the team that did it?

Whew, getting through A-rod and Tex was tough. Hahahaha