CHAPTER 10

CALL TO THE BULLPEN

9:52 P.M.

Cubs Lead, 5–1

In the bottom of the fifth inning, starter Kyle Hendricks got the first two outs on a grounder to second from Coco Crisp and a strikeout of Roberto Perez as we led 5–1. But when Kyle walked Carlos Santana, Joe Maddon summoned left-hander Jon Lester, our Game Five starter and winner, from the bullpen.

Of course, Joe’s decision raised eyebrows. After our 9–3 victory over Cleveland in Game Six the previous night, Joe told the media Jon was available in relief for Game Seven—with a catch. Joe said he didn’t want to bring Lester into a “dirty inning,” meaning he wouldn’t bring Jon into the game in the middle of the inning.

The reasons behind Joe’s strategy weren’t a deep secret.

Jon wasn’t accustomed to the role. His last relief appearance was nine years earlier, when he was with the Boston Red Sox. Jon entered twice in relief in the 2007 American League Championship Series against, ironically, the Indians. And Jon’s struggles holding runners—he hadn’t attempted a pickoff throw to first base since 2013, two years before signing with the Cubs in 2015—had been dissected every which way by the media and opponents.

But with left-handed hitter Jason Kipnis coming to the plate and Santana at first, Maddon believed that matchup favored Lester. So much for the “dirty inning” declaration!

With Jon replacing Kyle on the mound, I would also be coming into the game to catch, replacing Willson Contreras. That part of Joe’s decision was scripted a night earlier when Maddon told me I’d come in with Jon.

Of course, the next five minutes weren’t scripted. Chicago fans don’t need a reminder how the fifth inning got hectic in a hurry.

Jon Lester is one of the greatest pitchers—if not the greatest—I ever had the opportunity to catch. I held Jon to such a high standard, and I always expected greatness from him. You’re not going to win every game, but I expected him to give his best effort every time and I wanted to give him the same. Part of what made us work so well was our personalities. I was a lot more outgoing than Jon, but I think we shared the same approach to the game. We were like brothers. You want to kick your brother’s ass when he’s not doing what you think he should be doing. Or what you expected.

I first met Jon in 2008, when I signed with the Boston Red Sox after I was released by the Reds. I apparently didn’t make much of an impression on a guy who later became one of my closest friends. When I signed with Boston five years later, in 2013, he told me he’d almost forgotten my earlier stint with the Sox. You see, when Jon comes to work, he is there to work, not socialize. So it took me a while to get in with him. In 2013 he said I was a completely different player from what he (barely) remembered in 2008. Because I was comfortable in my role as a backup catcher, I brought tons of confidence and bravado to the clubhouse that second go-round. Jon and I quickly became great friends after that.

Jon entered the 2017 season as a four-time All-Star (2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016) and a three-time World Series champion (2007 and 2013 with the Boston Red Sox and 2016 with the Cubs). In eleven major-league seasons, his pitching record was a pretty fantastic 146-84 with a 3.44 ERA and 1,861 strikeouts. He pitched a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals in 2008. Better yet, he is considered one of the best postseason pitchers of all time, with an ERA of 2.50.

Part of what makes him so clutch is that Jon never gets overwhelmed by the moment; he just continues to compete. Maybe that’s because Jon has fought bigger battles than baseball. He, too, had fought a winning personal battle against cancer as a young man. Jon was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a rare, fast-spreading, but highly treatable cancer of the lymph nodes, during his rookie season in 2006 with the Red Sox. (He was declared cancer-free in late November 2006, just before Thanksgiving.)

My craziest story about Jon comes from off the field. He helped negotiate my contract with the Cubs. Not kidding you.

In early December 2014, Lester signed his six-year, $155 million contract with the Cubs. He started the 2014 season with the Red Sox but was traded to the Oakland Athletics in July for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes before becoming a free agent at the end of the season. I also was a free agent in 2014 following my second season with the Red Sox. The Cubs, San Diego Padres, and Red Sox had shown interest in me. The Cubs had been in communication with my agent, Ryan Gleichowski, for several weeks and we were close to getting a deal done. We sort of knew that they were waiting to get Lester signed before they would really try to finish up a deal with me. The day that Jon signed his new contract, he and a bunch of folks, including Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, were out at a country-themed restaurant-bar called Bub City in Chicago celebrating. It must have been two o’clock in the morning—Hyla and I were asleep in our Tallahassee home—when my cell phone buzzed. It was Lester. I didn’t answer it because, for one, it was two o’clock in the morning, and, two, I figured he’d call back in the morning when I didn’t answer.

Nope.

Jon called back immediately.

I was like, “What the hell?” I had watched Jon’s interview earlier that day on television and figured he was out celebrating and probably ten beers deep. Then my wife Hyla’s cell phone rang, and it was Jon’s wife, Farrah. “Where’s David?” she asked. It’s obvious they were out and having a great time. Jon got on the phone and said, “Rossy, let’s hammer this contract thing out. I have Theo right here.” Obviously, this was unusual, but I could tell Jon was just having fun. My wife was trying to sleep so I got up, grabbed my wife’s phone, and went into the kitchen. I thought to myself, This is hysterical, but I figured I would let Jon have his fun and play the conversation out. Jon asked me how much money I wanted. I was like, “Okay, two years for $5.2 million. Now have another shot on me.”

We went back and forth for fifteen minutes like that until I told Jon I was going back to sleep.

The next morning Ryan called and I laughingly told him about the “fun negotiations” from the night before. Ryan was pissed, but he knew it was all in fun and believed that he could now pull everything together and get the deal with the Cubs finalized. He called the Cubs and busted their chops for letting Jon call me in the middle of the night. Cubs GM Jed Hoyer apologized for what happened but made it clear it was really an expression of how much they wanted me. All was good… Ryan just had to get it done.

By this time, it had come down to the Cubs and Padres. The Red Sox had dropped out when my contract number was higher than what they wanted to pay. San Diego called Chow the following day after Lester’s late-night ring. Dave Roberts was the bench coach of the Padres at the time. He’s like a big brother to me and is one of my closest friends. I learned so much from Dave when we were teammates with the Los Angeles Dodgers (2002–04). He really wanted me in San Diego. Plus, the Padres’ offer continued to climb and I was like, “Oh my gosh.”

The next day—day number three in this whirlwind, crazy negotiation—I left Premier Health & Fitness Center in Tallahassee. I cranked up my truck and MLB Talk was on SiriusXM Radio; it was being reported I had signed with the Padres. I checked my cell phone, which I had left in my truck, and it had a billion text messages on it. I called my agent and he had no idea where the news came from. He called the Padres and their brass said they had no idea, either. Nobody knew who had released the bogus news. I called Dave Roberts and he told me he really hoped I wouldn’t sign for less money with the Cubs. The truth is I knew that it was not just about the money. Plus, I had to be a man of my word. I had told the Cubs that if we reached a certain number, then we’d hammer out the contract.

On December 23, 2014, I signed a two-year deal that included a $500,000 signing bonus and paid $2.25 million annually. The whole thing was nuts.

Thank you, Jon Lester. It’s possible that if he had not called me from the bar that night, I would have ended up in San Diego and not winning the 2016 World Series.

DAVID’S iPHONE JOURNAL

4/14/16

Boys off to a great start. We are 8–1. The atmosphere has been amazing at Wrigley. New locker room is unbelievable!!! Just swept the Reds and got Colorado coming in tomorrow. Dexter is on fire and KB is starting to heat up. Got family, parents, and sister’s family in town. Nice to see everyone. Don’t get to see them enough. Feel like I have eaten so much good food being back in Chicago. Every restaurant in this city has the best food.

I started to catch Jon at the end of the 2013 season with the Red Sox and then again in 2014 before he was traded to Oakland. Over time, I understood how Jon ticked and I knew how to push his buttons to make sure he was locked in on the mound. Jon, of course, gave it back to me in heaps, too, because we both wanted to win. When we looked back on it, we laughed at some of the things we used to say to each other.

I like to have fun during games. That’s my personality. When Jon and I were in Boston, Jon got four tickets behind home plate for every home game at Fenway Park. We played Detroit at home on September 3, 2013, and I asked Jon if Hyla could sit with his family for the game. He said sure. It was early in the game—maybe the second or third inning—and Jon was pitching and I was catching.

The hoopla surrounding the start of the game had calmed and I figured Hyla could hear me if I shouted at her. Before Jon started his warm-up pitches, I turned around and yelled at Hyla, “What’s up girl?” and waved at her. An embarrassed Hyla put her head in her hands and gave me that “God, David, just shut up and turn around and catch” look. I also heard Jon on the mound, laughing hysterically.

Neither one of us was laughing later in the game.

Jon and Detroit’s ace Max Scherzer were in a tight game. It was the top of the fifth inning and we led 1–0. With one out, Detroit catcher Brayan Pena hit a rocket that our third baseman, Will Middlebrooks, mishandled for an error. It was a tough play, but it was an error. No big deal, move on.

After Jon struck out Jose Iglesias for the second out, he surrendered consecutive ground ball singles to Austin Jackson and Torii Hunter to load the bases for Miguel Cabrera. To my eyes, Jon had made some noncompetitive pitches to Jackson and Hunter. So I strolled to the mound. I asked Jon, “Whatcha got?” Jon was pissed, but not about giving up the hits. He was still pissed about the ball Middlebrooks mishandled for an error.

I said, “You have to be fucking kidding me. You’re still worried about that? That was four hitters ago.” I reminded him the best hitter in the planet was up in Cabrera, and this was about to get ugly if Jon didn’t get his mind right. I looked at him and said, “Good luck with that.” I turned around and walked back behind the plate.

Tough love worked that time. Jon got Cabrera to ground out to shortstop for a force at second base for the third out of the inning. We held on and won 2–1. That’s one of my favorite stories, a big moment in our working relationship.

Jon and I got into one of our most memorable “discussions” in 2016 with the Cubs. It was an afternoon game at Atlanta on June 12. We had split the first two games with the Braves and were in the middle of a nine-game road trip. It was one of those southern, 95-degree sticky days where everyone hopes for a win and a quick game. Plus you always want to beat your old teams.

Like we always did, Jon and I met before the game for forty-five minutes and reviewed the scouting report on how we wanted to pitch to Atlanta hitters.

We had a plan. But then, in the bottom of the first, Jon decided to shake off my pitch selections. With one out, Chase D’Arnaud and Freddie Freeman—on a curveball Jon left up after he shook off a slider—hit consecutive singles. With Jeff Francoeur at bat, I threw wildly to third base on a double-steal attempt, and D’Arnaud scored.

I was pissed at myself for the throwing error and at Jon for not following the pitches we had just talked about in the scouting report. At the end of the inning—Atlanta led 1–0—Jon and I met in the dugout tunnel, and we went at it pretty good. I told him, “All right, I’m done. I am going to set the location where I want the pitch, and you just throw whatever you want to throw. I don’t care. I’m not calling pitches anymore today. We just talked about what we wanted to throw and you’re doing stupid stuff out there in the first inning. I can’t deal with it.”

Jon looked at me and said, “Rossy, you’re going to give up on me in the first inning? It’s one to nothing.” I said, “Yep, I’m giving up on you.” We went back and forth for another five minutes before both of us calmed down.

Jon went on to throw seven innings and allowed one run (unearned on my error) in the 13–2 victory. I maintain that error was all Jon’s fault. I couldn’t focus on what I was supposed to do because I was so mad at him!

I didn’t become Jon’s personal catcher by design. It happened by chance late in the 2013 season with the Boston Red Sox. A few of his starts in a row were all against left-handed pitchers, and that was usually when I played.

We had hit it off immediately because of our personalities and desire to win. In spring training in Fort Myers, Jon, coming off his first losing season (9-14) in the big leagues, was superfocused on his mechanics. His ball was coming out flat. I remember our pitching coach, Juan, and manager, John, pointing that out in his first bullpen I caught. I gave him some feedback on what I saw—and the coaches thought if he stayed tall, his arm angle was better. I tried to remember that and he appreciated it and respected my opinion. We just worked well together and there was an immediate mutual respect.

After I missed two months in the middle of the season with a concussion, my goal when I returned was to do anything I could to help the team win. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was the starting catcher and he helped direct the Sox’s best team ERA (3.79) in thirteen years. But I started to catch Lester late in the regular season. That carried over in the American League Championship Series against the Tigers and in his two World Series victories over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Red Sox manager John Farrell liked how Lester and I performed together. From that point through the 2014 season, before Jon was traded to Oakland, Jon had a 2.77 ERA in 29 starts with me behind the plate. His ERA dipped to 1.33 in four postseason starts with me. We enjoyed the same success in Chicago. Jon won 19 games in 2016 to match his career-high, and he went 3-1 with a 2.02 ERA in six postseason games.

When Jon and I went over the scouting report before any game, I tried to be blunt, to the point, and develop a plan on how to attack hitters. Jon was at his best when he was aggressive and had that mindset on the mound. That aggressive approach helped solidify our bond. That’s the best way I can explain it. So that’s how he got stuck with me every five days.

Jon also never hid from his struggles to throw to first base with a runner on. In 2011 with Boston, he made 70 throws to first base. That number fell to 5 in 2012 and 7 in 2013. He did not attempt a single pickoff in 2014. When Jon joined the Cubs, we worked on different techniques to hold runners on at first base. We had different signs for pitchouts and modified pitchouts, like when I threw behind a runner at first base off a high, outside fastball to a right-handed hitter that wasn’t intended to be a strike. Jon also altered his tempo on the mound to disrupt the baserunner. He was one of the quickest pitchers at getting the ball to me, so that gave me a chance to throw out the baserunner. I told Jon not to worry about the baserunner, let me deal with that. I wanted him to focus on the hitter and execute his pitches.

In the National League Championship Series against Los Angeles, the Dodgers’ runners hopped around on the base paths and took huge leads with hopes of messing with Jon’s head. He and I couldn’t have cared less because most of the time, their first step or two on Jon’s delivery to the plate was back to first base. I think as much as they were trying to mess with Jon, they knew I liked to back-pick.

In our 8–4 victory over Los Angeles in Game One, the tone was set when Adrian Gonzalez tried to score from second base on a single to left field. Adrian stepped back toward second base on the pitch, and he was thrown out by several steps at home plate by left fielder Ben Zobrist. Thankfully, he didn’t get a good secondary lead on the pitch.

I really enjoyed trying to throw runners out and helping Jon. I had a lot of pride in my defense. In 2016, I picked off five baserunners, the most in baseball, and threw out 18 of 49 (27 percent) base stealers to match the league average.

DAVID’S iPHONE JOURNAL

4/17/16

Room service guy tonight brought my dinner and said “tough loss today. I have my blue on. I am pulling for you guys. Don’t tell my co-workers.” And he pulled his pants up and showed me his Cubs socks!!! Hahaha. I learned so much baseball sitting next to Butter on the bench!!!

While Jon and I had our last hurrah together in the 2016 World Series, Jon also pitched during my last regular-season appearance at Wrigley during his start on Sunday, September 25, against the St. Louis Cardinals. The club honored me before the game with a video tribute and gifts that, no surprise, brought me to tears. The fans gave me a standing ovation each time I came to the plate. I managed to hit a solo home run, my tenth of the season, in the fifth inning to open the scoring and received another standing ovation.

Then, with two outs in the top of the seventh and the bases empty, Joe Maddon walked to the mound to talk to Lester. I wasn’t happy because Jon was in a rhythm and had pitched six scoreless innings in the 2–0 game. When I got to the mound, I asked Joe, “What the hell is going on?” He smiled and put his arm around me and said, “That’s it, brother. I have never done this before but I am taking you out.” It caught me off guard. The manager never comes to the mound to remove the catcher. It just doesn’t happen.

Everyone started to tell me they loved me, and I got emotional as I realized what was going on. I pulled my mask down as tears came to my eyes and I tried to pull myself together before I walked off the field. Willson Contreras replaced me at catcher and gave me a bear hug. The entire scene was about as emotional as one can get on a pitching mound, and in such a positive way. I found out after the game that the tribute was Jon’s idea. He wanted to show how much he appreciated me one last time. He approached Joe before the game and Joe felt it was the right thing to do, too, if they could pull it off.

Well, they did, and it’s a moment I’ll always remember.

Our journey together wasn’t over, though. I caught Jon’s postseason starts in Game One of the National League Division Series against San Francisco and Game One and Game Five in the National League Championship Series against Los Angeles. Jon was the winning pitcher in two of the three games.

The World Series opened in Cleveland on Tuesday, October 25. The Indians beat us 6–0 in Game One in Cleveland behind their starter, Corey Kluber. He fanned nine over six innings. Jon allowed three runs over five and two-thirds innings. The Indians struck early for a 2–0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. It was a game where the other team simply played better, end of story.

At that point, we trailed three games to one in the Series and barely sidestepped elimination in Game Five behind Jon with a 3–2 victory at Wrigley on October 30. Jon threw six innings and closer Aroldis Chapman relieved Carl Edwards Jr. for the final eight outs of the game to give the Cubs their first Series win at Wrigley Field in seventy-one years.

The game also marked my final start in the major leagues and, at that moment, possibly my last time to catch Jon. We fell behind 1–0 in the second inning but scored three in the bottom of the fourth. I capped a fourth-inning rally with a sacrifice fly to left with the bases loaded. The Indians scored a solo run off Jon in the sixth on a two-out single, and I was able to cut down Francisco Lindor at second base on an attempted steal for the final out of the inning. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Joe pinch-hit Miggy Montero for me. That meant Jon and I were both out of the game, since Joe intended to make a pitching change.

I never got mad at Joe too much, but I was hot about this one. I felt like I was playing well and should have remained in. Regardless, Joe made the choice and I needed to put my own feelings aside. I hugged Jon and went into the locker room to get my emotions in check. I didn’t want to have a negative attitude when I returned to the dugout. I changed out of my cleats, took a few minutes to cool down, and went back out and cheered on the team.

We beat Cleveland 9–3 in Game Six to force a winner-take-all Game Seven. When Joe informed the media after Game Six that he might use Jon in relief in Game Seven, he also told me to be ready because I would catch Jon in that situation. My personal anxiety kicked in at that moment. I wanted to map out the next day, what it was going to be like, how I was going to prepare, what I needed to do to be ready. And then there was the emotional challenge of just trying to be focused and calm.

I didn’t watch any film of Cleveland’s hitters, but I wanted to make sure I had the scouting report on our left-handed pitcher against their hitters. I hadn’t done a ton of homework on right-handed pitchers against the Indians because I always caught Jon. But when I got to Progressive Field the day of Game Seven I reviewed the report just in case I caught a right-hander out of the bullpen.

A big concern for me heading into the game was about timing—when should I walk down to the bullpen. I wanted to be in the dugout as much as possible. It was where I watched the game all year and I needed to feel the pulse of the guys. Jon pitching in relief was the big story, but you don’t want it to be a distraction to the rest of the team. We decided to walk to the bullpen in the third inning, and it was crazy. Cameras appeared from every angle, and one guy somehow got in our bullpen with a camera.

My adrenaline started to pump as Jon stretched and began to warm up. He went through his entire routine and threw about thirty-five pitches. He was crisp from the start. I returned to the dugout and we scored two runs in the top of the fifth and led 4–1. Joe Maddon, pitching coach Chris Bosio, and I huddled in the dugout and Joe asked me what I thought as the bottom of the fifth approached. I told him Jon looked good, sharp in the bullpen. Joe said his goal was to go with Kyle, Lester, and Chappy (closer Aroldis Chapman) over the final four innings.

Kyle had a one-two-three, ten-pitch fourth inning—plus he had the lowest ERA in baseball at 2.13—and the thought process was to let him throw the fifth inning. Joe said, “Yeah, I’ll let him go but if he gets to Kipnis, Jon is in.” It was pretty important to use Jon soon if he was going to get used at all. He had started warming up a few innings earlier when Kyle was in a jam. Starters are not used to getting loosened up and then sitting back down, plus he was on short rest. I don’t think Jon could have sat back down, then got loose again and been very effective. I thought using Jon there was a good idea because Kipnis had done nothing against Jon in the Series—0 for 6 with two strikeouts.

It was a really good matchup for us.

Now we just had to go out and execute it.