Jon Lester, a left-hander from the Washington Nationals, is leaving the spring training camp to undergo thyroid gland removal surgery, manager Dave Martinez said Wednesday.
Lester, 37, had to travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to New York to do the procedure.
“Hopefully he can pitch again in about a week,” Martinez said in a video conference with reporters ahead of Washington’s exhibition game against the Miami Marlins. “We want him to take care of it now, so it’s not a problem.”
Martinez said the nationals “still have plans, for now, to start the season with us on their scheduled day, but we’ll have to see, once this procedure is done, how it feels.”
In 2006, Lester’s rookie season with the Boston Red Sox ended soon after he was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma.
He underwent chemotherapy treatments and returned to the Red Sox during spring training before the following season.
Lester enters his 16th year in the senior race and first with Washington. He was a free agent and joined the Nationals with a $ 5 million one-year contract after playing the last six seasons with the Chicago Cubs.
The starting pitcher was scheduled to make his first appearance in Washington at a Grapefruit League game on Thursday.
But Martinez said that after obtaining additional test results, the decision was made on Tuesday that Lester be operated on.
He said Lester had felt tired.
“That’s the big problem. I feel like once they take that out, they’ll have a lot more energy throughout the day,” the manager said. “I hope it works for him. I really do. He’s a big part of what we do here and we love having him. He’s been working his tail day in and day out and I know he’s going to help us.”
Washington added Lester to a stellar rotation that already included three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, 2019 World Series MVP, and left-wing Patrick Corbin.
Notes:
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RF Juan Soto was in training on Wednesday for his debut in the show, reaching number 2, behind CF Victor Robles and ahead of SS Trea Turner.
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Martinez said the team will use a series of reliefs on Thursday.