Friday, March 13, 2009

Lester undergoing physical

Jon Lester is expected to undergo a thorough physical in Fort Myers this weekend before the Red Sox sign off on his five-year, $30 million contract, the Globe is reporting.

It'll be interesting to see if they find anything.

As detailed already in this space, giving Lester a five-year deal a year after he threw 237 innings is a huge risk. The injury to Ervin Santana -- who threw 219 innings a year ago and signed a $30 million contract extension in February -- only is the latest piece of evidence.

Every player undergoes a physical like the one Lester will undergo this weekend. Will doctors find anything, though? And will it matter?

With the news of the contract so widely disseminated already -- if not confirmed by any of the parties involved -- it would have to take something awfully severe for them to pull the deal off the table. Lester looks storng and healthy this spring, so it's unlikely there's anything wrong with his arm right now. That might not be the case, though, a month or a year or two years into the contract.

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