BOSTON -- Jon Lester is far from a New England native. He was born and raised just south of Seattle. He met his wife in South Carolina. His Southern twang gives away the roots he's put down in Georgia, where he bought a new house this offseason.

BOSTON � Jon Lester is far from a New England native. He was born and raised just south of Seattle. He met his wife in South Carolina. His Southern twang gives away the roots he�s put down in Georgia, where he bought a new house this offseason.

But more than 10 years have elapsed since the Red Sox drafted Lester out of high school, since they made him the team�s first draft pick under the John Henry-led ownership group. It was with the Red Sox that Lester got to the major leagues. It was with the Red Sox that Lester fought and beat cancer.

Pitching for the Red Sox is all Lester has ever known � and, all else being equal, the 30-year-old lefty would like to keep it that way.

�I want to stay here,� he said. �This is what I�ve known. I�ve grown up in this organization. I�ve had plenty of good times and plenty of bad times here. I enjoy it. My family loves it here. All my son talks about is going home to Boston. That�s what he thinks is home. �

�I want to be here until they have to rip this jersey off my back.�

What remains to be determined is whether Lester and the Red Sox can come to terms on a deal that satisfies both sides. Lester indicated a willingness � an eagerness, even � to sit down during spring training and hammer out an extension, just the way the two sides did in spring training in 2009.

The Red Sox picked up their $13-million option on Lester two days after the World Series, ensuring they�d have him pitching at the front of their rotation for the 2014 season. Barring an extension, he�ll be a free agent next winter � at which point teams will offer him wheelbarrows full of money.

Justin Verlander signed a $180-million contract extension to stay in Detroit. Felix Hernandez signed a $175-million contract to stay in Seattle. Cole Hamels signed a $144-million contract to stay in Philadelphia.

Just a week ago, Los Angeles lefty Clayton Kershaw agreed to a seven-year, $215-contract extension to stay with the Dodgers � the largest deal ever for a pitcher.

Lester acknowledged that he�s not going to get paid what Kershaw will � �That one in itself is off on its own,� he said � but he still understands the economic trends of the game and his responsibility to his fellow players not to alter the trajectory of player salaries.

�You never want to be the guy that takes the market backward,� he said. �With the way the game�s gone the past couple years, just the revenue and TV deals and everything, you�re only going to see those deals kind of creep up.�

A Red Sox team that declined to match the New York Yankees� $153-million offer for Jacoby Ellsbury isn�t going to throw $175 million at Lester � no matter how long he�s been in the organization, no matter how brilliantly he pitched in the postseason.

If Lester signs an extension in spring training, it�s going to be for less money than he could get on the open market next winter.

�I understand that you�re going to take a discount to stay,� Lester said. �Do I want to do that? Absolutely. But just like they want it to be fair for them, I want it to be fair for me and my family.�

It was suggested to Lester that Dustin Pedroia took a significant discount when he signed a seven-year, $100-million contract extension with the Red Sox in July � less than half of what Robinson Cano wound up getting from the Seattle Mariners via free agency.

�Until Cano signed, [Pedroia] had the largest second-base contract in the game,� Lester said. �He didn�t take the market back.�

The Boston brass unquestionably has a desire to retain Lester beyond the 2014 season. Like Lester is willing to take less than he�d take elsewhere to stay in Boston, the Red Sox seemingly would offer Lester more than they�d offer a similar pitcher at a similar age because of what he means to the organization.

�There are guys that move into a category that I think makes them a little different and gives them the right to have a conversation,� Boston general manager Ben Cherington said. �Jon is in that category and Dustin is in that category and David Ortiz has been in that category.�

A deal might not get done in spring training. Cherington began negotiations with Pedroia and his agents � the same agents who will represent Lester � during spring training a year ago, and the deal didn�t get done until July. But all indications are that a deal will get done.

�These guys are my No. 1 priority,� Lester said. �They�re going to have first crack. Until that time comes where they can�t have first crack anymore, these guys are my top priority and this is where I want to be.�

Lester met with a group of reporters on one side of a ballroom at the Westin Copley hotel before the annual Boston baseball writers� dinner. Cherington met with another group of reporters on the other side of the same ballroom. Though the two sides have yet to begin talking specifics, it seems unfathomable they won�t find common ground.

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