On December 10, 2014, Chicago Cubs fans woke up to see that their favorite team had signed top costless agent left hander Jon Lester to the biggest contract in franchise history. Lester signed a six-year, $155-million deal that changes not only the Cubs but the whole National League Central division.

The Cubs already have a solid rotation with Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks, both coming off solid years, but now inserting Lester into the mix changes the whole landscape of the team.

Lester, 31, had a break-out season in 2014 pitching for both the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics. He went 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA in 219.2 innings while striking out 220 and walking a career low of 48. He posted career bests in other notable categories including ERA+ (159) and BB/9 (1.9).

Arrieta, however, is also a big name for the Cubs after going 10-5 with a 2.53 ERA in 25 starts -- including taking a no-hitter/perfect game into the 7th inning three separate times. He struck out 167 and walked 41 in a career high 156.1 innings after missing the first month of the season with a shoulder injury. Like most of the Cubs rotation, Arrieta was not a home-grown piece from the Cubs organization. Instead, he was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on July 2, 2013, along with Pedro Strop for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger, and he has not looked back.

Jason Hammel is also back with Chicago after he was traded away in the July 4th deal that netted the Cubs top A's prospects Addison Russell and Billy McKinney. With the Cubs, Hammel went 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA in 108.2 innings, striking out 104 and walking 23. He was a different story in Oakland as he went 2-6 with a 4.26 ERA in 13 starts and 67.2 innings.

Like Arrieta, Hendricks was not originally drafted by the Cubs; instead, he was acquired in the deal that sent Ryan Dempster to Texas. Hendricks dazzled in his Major League debut in 2014, going 7-2 with a 2.46 ERA in 13 starts and 80.1 innings pitched, but a FIP of 3.32 suggests that while Hendricks was a good pitcher, he was not quite as good as his numbers make him appear.

For the fifth spot in the rotation, the Cubs have Travis Wood, Edwin Jackson, Dallas Beeler, and Felix Dubront expected to compete. Jackson has struggled as a Cub, but the others have shown enough promise to handle the back end of the rotation.

Lester solidifies the pitching staff, but all will have to step up to help take this team from the bottom of the division into contention in 2015.

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About the author
Dylan Mondi
Hey everyone I am Dylan, I will be writing for the MLB section of the site. You can follow me on twitter @dmondimlb