Pirates considered to be “third” in the derby for Jon Lester

The growing sense around baseball is Jon Lester will be dealt to the Dodgers or Cardinals and maybe the Pirates with an outside shot.

Pittsburgh’s reluctance to include one of Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, Josh Bell or Jameson Taillon could lead to the Pirates missing out on Lester.

Pirates officials privately have debunked reports of Josh Bell being in play for Lester.

Jon Heyman of CBSSports writes the Cardinals,Dodgers are leading the pack. “The Cardinals and Dodgers, two NL powers, appear to be the teams most aggressively competing for the market’s top pitchers, Jon Lester and David Price, people familiar with the situation suggest. St. Louis and LA seem fairly determined to land another front-line starter and word is both teams have remained in on both big pitchers.”

Heyman calls the Pirates a distant third right now in the derby.

“There were suggestions the Pirates are still involved on the Lester front, but they are reluctant to surrender top prospects for a rental, seeming to place them third in the derby,” Heyman says.

The Pirates have been trying to sell the Red Sox on a deal packaged around Alen Hanson. Pittsburgh has also been talking to the Red Sox about others on the Red Sox Major League Roster.