The Red Sox and Jon Lester are officially in contact, according to Rob Bradford, with Ben Cherington meeting with the lefty's representatives for an "extended period" Tuesday night:
Cherington met with Lesters agents for an extended period of time last night
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) November 12, 2014
(Per John Tomase, that "extended period" is some two hours)
Obviously, this much was always going to happen. The Red Sox were never going to sit idly by as others bid on Lester without making any attempt to bring him back. The question is whether they're willing to make the sort of offer necessary to even compete in the market for a player like Lester.
The good news is that recent reports would indicate that, yes, that willingness is there. And, if you're really looking to read into it, that two hours is an awfully long time to meet if all the Red Sox were going to do is make an embarrassingly low offer and then exit, stage left.
It's going to be a while before we know if the Red Sox are real competitors for Lester, whose market does not seem to be developing at the breakneck pace of Pablo Sandoval's. Still, a first step has been taken, and if nothing else, it at least seems to be in the right direction.