Jon Lester, left of the Washington Nationals, is leaving the spring training camp to be operated on for thyroid removal, manager Dave Martinez said on Wednesday.
Lester, 37, was to travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to New York for the procedure.
“We hope he can play 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 him now, so it’s not a problem.”
Martinez said the nationals “still have plans, as of now, for him to start the season with us on the scheduled day, but we will have to see – after this procedure – how he feels.”
In 2006, Lester’s debut season with the Boston Red Sox ended early because he was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma.
He underwent chemotherapy and returned to the Red Sox for spring training before the following season.
Lester enters the 16th year of adulthood and the 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 original pitcher was scheduled to make his first appearance in Washington in a Grapefruit League game on Thursday.
But Martinez said that after the results of the additional tests came, a decision was made on Tuesday for Lester to undergo the operation.
He said Lester was tired.
“This is the big problem. I feel that once they get this out, they will have a lot more energy throughout the day,” the manager said. .
Washington has added Lester to a star-studded rotation, which has already included three-time Cy Young Max Scherzer winner, 2019 World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg and left-hander Patrick Corbin.
Note:
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RF Juan Soto was in line on Wednesday for his debut at the exhibition, hitting 2nd place, behind CF Victor Robles and ahead of SS Trea Turner.
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Martinez said the team will use a series of exemptions on Thursday.