I'm not saying that they wouldn't benefit from letting Lester walk, but he's a guy I would think deserves the money he wants. He's a solid pitcher, great guy, and one of the faces of the franchise. Sure they would be paying for past performances, and he would be in declining years, but you have guys like Henry Owens coming up that could possibly be the future ace of the staff. Lester is a guy who would be a solid 2-4 pitcher even in his declining years. He's just good. Good pitching costs money, and granted he could make more money off the FA market, but the Sox would be stupid to let him go to FA and then try to re-sign him. They won't be able to. I think it's in both parties best interests to come to a compromise. The offer they gave him wasn't good enough, I honestly think they'll go higher. I'd actually be surprised if they didn't.