Unless you've been living under a rock, you are well aware that Jon Lester is probably going to be traded in the next 24 hours. Additionally, he is due to become a free agent at the end of this baseball season.

In case you missed it, Jon Lester has been scratched from his start today and will be replaced by Brandon Workman.  Although no trade is imminent at this point, I'd be shocked if he was still in a Red Sox uniform at 4 pm on Thursday. 

The MLB trade deadline is right in front of us and the Red Sox are about as alive as an antelope with its neck in a tiger's mouth.  With things being as they are, should the Red Sox part ways with Jon Lester?

Last Monday the Red Sox were looking great and doing exactly what they needed to do heading out of the All-Star break.  After sweeping the Royals at home, the team headed to Canada to start off a two city, seven game road trip.  Monday night the offense looked the best it has all season as they scored 14 runs and moved within 7.5 games of Baltimore and 3.5 games of New York and Toronto. 

The other day I was listening to the radio when the topic of Jon Lester's contract came up.  While I've said many times that I don't think Lester is an ace, I've got to hand it him with his numbers this year.  Without a doubt, he is putting up the kind of numbers which will likely get him a much bigger contract than I was picturing this winter.