Red Sox: Better To Cheer Jon Lester Or Boo Adrian Gonzalez?

Boston Red Sox fans may not see their team in the playoffs anymore, but there’s two teams with former Red Sox players still in the hunt. Will they be cheered, booed, or ignored by Red Sox Nation?

Steve Buckley of The Boston Herald wrote an interesting article, debating reasons why Red Sox Nation would still have their eye glued to the MLB postseason, even though Boston’s historic franchise was eliminated earlier in the week. Two reasons in particular should stand out to many Red Sox fans: Jon Lester and Adrian Gonzalez.

Buckley stated that if Boston looks for “[Chicago] Cubs players with Red Sox ties, begin with Jon Lester.” Buckley goes on to state:

"The lefty came up through the Boston farm system, became a star, made use of our world-class hospitals to beat cancer, won the deciding Game 4 of the 2007 World Series and was the ace of the Sox’ 2013 championship team. He wanted to remain with the Red Sox, and should have. He’s 3-0 with a 0.43 ERA in three World Series starts."

This season, Lester was everything that former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, now with the Cubs, paid for. The 32-year-old lefty posted a 19-5 record with a 2.44 ERA. He struck out 197 batters in 202.2 innings of work. To put those numbers into a Red Sox perspective, their current 31-year-old lefty David Price posted a 17-9 record and a 3.99 ERA. He struck out 228 batters in 230 innings.

Yet, Price made the Red Sox pay a seven-year contract worth $217 million for allowing five earned runs on six hits in only 3.1 innings against the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. Lester got a six-year deal worth $155 million from the Cubs and shut out the San Francisco Giants in eight innings of work in the National League Division Series.

Buckley also pointed out, while discussing Los Angeles Dodgers with Red Sox ties, the “aforementioned Gonzalez, a clubhouse lawyer during his Boston days whose departure was celebrated by all. He was sent to LA during the famous housecleaning of 2012, along with pitcher Josh Beckett and infielder Nick Punto, both now retired, and outfielder Carl Crawford, another crybaby who was released earlier this year.”

It wasn’t like Gonzalez played that terrible at the plate for the Red Sox in those two tumultuous years. Both in 2011 and in 2012, before the trade, Gonzalez hit above .300. He had 117 RBIs in hist first year and had 86 RBIs before he was sent packing to L.A. with the other malcontents.

Both Lester and Gonzalez played well for the Red Sox, but it was the way that each of them left that makes tonight interesting for Red Sox fans. While Lester kept holding off the Cubs to see if the Red Sox would match their offer, Gonzalez was seen as a complaining cancer that was crippling the team.

Lester was dealt to the Oakland Athletics for Yoenis Cespedes with the promise that the Red Sox brass would try to sign him back to the club that he loved so much. The shots of him talking to owner John Henry before getting in his vehicle to leave the only MLB home he’d ever known was heartbreaking to many of Red Sox Nation.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez seemed chaffed by the East coast, often appearing as if his time on the West coast made him too laid back to deal with Boston’s high expectations of winning. The scene of him with Beckett and Punto on the plane departing for L.A., partying over the fact that they were leaving Boston, stuck in the gut of many Red Sox fans who will never forget it.

Tonight, Lester and Gonzalez will go head-to-head for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. What may tickle Red Sox fans to watch is the fact that Gonzalez has only a .125 batting average against Lester in his career. If Lester was to get the victory, the Cubs would have only three more wins to reach the World Series and send Gonzalez home early.

Next: Red Sox Players Out Of Options?

Whether the Cubs’ drought of a World Series championship since 1908 makes them akin to the Red Sox drought before 2004 or not, seeing Lester achieve one step closer to the ultimate prize may make Red Sox fans tune in. Seeing Lester shut down Gonzalez and the Dodgers may be even better for other Red Sox fans. Either way, Boston has something that they still will want to see in this postseason, even if the Red Sox are out.