Sources – Cardinals, free agent Lance Lynn reach 1-year deal،
Right-hander Lance Lynn and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a one-year contract with a club option that guarantees $10 million and reunites the 36-year-old with the team that drafted him ago is fifteen years old, according to sources close to the agreement was declared to ESPN on Monday.
Lynn, who spent the first six seasons of his career with the Cardinals, has bounced around five teams since leaving St. Louis and returns after a season in which he posted a strikeout rate of elite but struggled with the ball.
The deal, which includes performance bonuses and escalators and is pending a physical, could be worth as much as $26 million if the Cardinals exercise the option, sources said.
With the Chicago White Sox, Lynn struck out 144 in 119⅔ innings, but allowed 28 home runs and posted a 6.47 ERA. The Los Angeles Dodgers nonetheless dealt him at the trade deadline, and he was better there, posting a 4.36 ERA but still giving up 16 home runs in 64 innings.
The Cardinals entered the winter looking for three starting pitchers to fill out a beleaguered rotation whose 5.08 ERA was the fifth-worst in baseball. They return Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz, as well as young lefties Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson and Drew Rom, all of whom started games with varying degrees of effectiveness last season.
St. Louis’ poor pitching led to the team’s worst full season (71-91) since 1990.
Starting pitchers are the most abundant commodity available in this winter’s free agent class, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery — who pitched for the Cardinals last year before trading him to the Texas Rangers — all available. There are also front-line pitchers on the trade market, including Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow, Chicago’s Dylan Cease and Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes.
The Cardinals’ glut of position players could position them for a potential deal. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill is one year away from free agency, and outfielder Dylan Carlson and super-utilityman Tommy Edman have been discussed in trade talks.
Over his 12-year career, Lynn is 136-95 with a 3.74 ERA after being selected by St. Louis from Mississippi with the 39th overall pick in 2008. A reliable innings eater, he has pitched 1,889 innings, struck out 1,906 and walked. 660 while allowing 215 home runs.
The Cardinals also brought back another former player on Monday — infielder Daniel Descalso — to serve as bench coach in 2024. Descalso, who played for St. Louis from 2010 to 2014, replaces Joe McEwing, who is now special assistant to the president. of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
