Fan News

The Boston Red Sox have picked up the 2014 club option in starting pitcher Jon Lester's contract, which will pay him $13 million, reports WEEI's Rob Bradford:

Per source, Red Sox have activated Jon Lester's $13 million option for next season

— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) November 1, 2013

The Red Sox confirm the news:

Of the free agents who will be able to negotiate and sign with new teams beginning on Tuesday, November 5, several of them had an extended opportunity to increase (or decrease) their value in the postseason. 

While only a handful of innings pitched or a small sample size of at-bats normally wouldn't move the needle very much on a veteran player's perceived value, a player's ability to produce in the playoffs certainly can. 

Here are 10 players whose asking price has likely risen or fallen since the end of the regular season.

Following their victory in Game 5 of the World Series, the Boston Red Sox are now just one win away from clinching their third World Series title in the past 10 years.

The remainder of the series will be played at Fenway Park, and the Red Sox would ideally like to close things out during Game 6. However, the St. Louis Cardinals are a strong opponent, and they are more than capable of winning two difficult road games.

There are a number of keys to World Series Game 6 that will have an impact if we see a decisive Game 7.

Most eyes may currently be on the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals in the Fall Classic, but a travel day made time for MLB's best defenders to be showcased on Tuesday night, as the Gold Glove awards were handed out. 

And they came with an added wrinkle: For the first time ever, sabermetrics and advanced statistics factored into the vote for this year's winners. 

The St. Louis Cardinals’ hitters need to shake the rust, and fast.

The big-money free-agent signings grab all the headlines.

As both the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals have demonstrated, however, the teams that contend for World Series titles build from within.

A well-timed splash for a Carlos Beltran or a Mike Napoli is certainly part of the blueprint. It's the ability to consistently pluck top talent from down on the farm, though, that makes a club a perennial contender.

Sasquatch hunters would lose their minds if they happened across Fenway Park. The men of the 2013 Boston Red Sox own some of the gnarliest beards in baseball, and it's about time we settle the argument of who has the best. 

I mean, seeing as how these players went through all of the trouble and weeks (hours when it comes to Jonny Gomes) to grow these things, we might as well judge them. 

From the scraggly to those who would make The Most Interesting Man in the World happy, we have you covered. 

The St. Louis Cardinals have struggled throughout the 2013 World Series.  The team's offense has been nonexistent, the defense has been questionable at times and manager Mike Matheny's decisions have left many people scratching their heads.  Now they head back to Boston for Games 6 and 7, and even that is anything but routine.

The New York Yankees and Brian Cashman are at a crossroads entering an offseason that will determine the future for both the franchise and its general manager of the last 15 years. 

Cashman has been a lightning rod for criticism for a long time. He's almost become too easy a target because the Yankees have spent more money to put a team on the field than any other organization in North American professional sports, so how hard can it be to sit in that front office? 

Paul Konerko's days with the Chicago White Sox seem to be over after the team signed international free-agent first baseman Jose Abreu to a six-year, $68 million deal.

In addition to Abreu, the White Sox also have Adam Dunn under contract, creating a logjam at first base and DH.