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Veteran free-agent left-hander Jon Lester agreed to a one-year deal to join the Washington Nationals with a club option for a second season, ESPN reported Monday.

Financial details of the deal were not reported.



Lester, who turned 37 earlier this month, will depart the Chicago Cubs after six seasons during which he won a World Series, was named to two All-Star teams and finished in the top 10 of the National League Cy Young Award voting twice.

In 15 seasons, first with the Boston Red Sox, and a brief stop in Oakland before joining the Cubs in 2015, Lester is 193-111 with a 3.60 ERA in 424 appearances, with all but one of those a start.

Lester won a pair of World Series titles at Boston in 2007 and 2013 before helping the Cubs to the title in 2016. He was 19-5 for the Cubs during the regular season of their championship year and finished second in the Cy Young voting.

In the 2016 National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lester earned MVP honors with a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings. He was 1-1 in the World Series against the Cleveland Indians with a 3.68 ERA.



The Nationals won the World Series in 2019, but went 26-34 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season and finished in last place in the NL East.

Lester now joins a Nationals starting staff that includes right-handers Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Scherzer is a seven-time All-Star and a three-time Cy Young Award winner.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)