Jon Lester is aware that people are going to undervalue him after a season in which he went 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA.

There will be trade rumors and contract uncertainty as Boston undergoes a transformation as well.

"This year is tough because you're comparing it to a year that was a career low," Lester said. "If it was a career high it would probably be a different answer. I would probably be like, 'Yeah, I'm ready to go.' As far as a career low, yeah, that first month this offseason was tough. I usually spend a couple of days here and there by myself, whether it's down at the farm or doing errands, or whatever, and kind of reflect on things and think about the season and think about how things went. It seems like it took me a lot longer than that. It took me a couple of weeks to filter through everything. I think you could really throw any and every one of those words into my offseason and into spring training and into my season. I've never been on this side. I've never had to prove myself. I'm using that as motivation and go out and prove to myself I am who I am. 

"I think you could really honestly put any one of those words: driven, motivated, pissed off, ready to go, whatever you want -- in front of my name and that will describe how I'm feeling. I'm ready to get the season going and go back out there and prove those first four or five years of my career weren't flukes."

Prior to 2012, Lester had produced four straight 15-plus win seasons with an ERA of 3.50 or lower and at least 190 innings pitched.