Cardinals Bolster Starting Rotation With Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson Signings
Starting pitching was atop the St. Louis Cardinals’ list of priorities entering this off-season, and they’ve acted swiftly to help address that area by adding a pair of veteran arms via free agency.
First, the Cardinals agreed to a one-year deal with right-hander Lance Lynn on Monday, inking the 36-year-old to a contract worth $10 million in 2024. It also includes a $12 million club option for the 2025 season.
St. Louis then signed fellow righty Kyle Gibson a day later, acquiring him on a one-year, $12-million contract with a club option for 2025. Both deals were made official per a team announcement on Tuesday.
Lynn split last season between the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, posting a career-worst 5.73 ERA with 191 strikeouts across 32 starts. He was worth only 0.5 fWAR across 183.2 innings during his 12th big league season.
Walks and home runs were the two-time All-Star’s primary ailments, as evidenced by his 8.3% walk rate and 2.16 HR/9 – the highest of his career. He also struggled to keep balls on the ground, performing to a 36.3% clip, which ranked in the 17th percentile of the majors.
Despite those woes, Lynn was among the 25 major league pitchers to complete at least 180 innings in 2023 – a threshold he’s reached in five of his 12 seasons. And he shouldn’t have any issues re-adjusting to life in St. Louis.
The Cardinals drafted Lynn in 2008 and witnessed his MLB debut during the 2011 season, where he pitched out of the bullpen as the franchise secured its 11th World Series title. He played six seasons, earning a 72-47 record with a 3.38 ERA over 183 games, before leaving for Minnesota as a free agent in 2018.
Lynn has endured quite the journey over the last six seasons, spending time with the Twins (2018), New York Yankees (2018), Texas Rangers (2019-20), White Sox (2021-23) and Dodgers (2023).
Gibson has also bounced around over the last few years, making stops in Texas and Philadelphia before landing in Baltimore this past season. While his tenure was brief, it proved crucial to the organization’s first playoff berth since 2016.
The 36-year-old starter led all Orioles pitchers in innings pitched (192.0, his most since 2018) and finished second in fWAR (2.6), behind only Kyle Bradish (3.8). His 157 strikeouts tied him with Dean Kremer for second-most on the team, trailing Bradish’s 168.
On top of that, Gibson effectively limited walks (6.8%, 75th percentile) and induced high amounts of ground balls (49.7%, 81st percentile), profiling the veteran righty as a reliable back-end pitcher for St. Louis, as does Lynn.
The Cardinals have been seeking multiple pitching upgrades this winter after trading Jordan Montgomery to Texas at last season’s trade deadline and non-tendering Dakota Hudson last Friday. But they appear to be on the correct path following the additions of Lynn and Gibson.
Now isn’t the time to stop adding however.
Signing Lynn and Gibson is a decent start, but pairing them with Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz should still leave this team wanting more. There hasn’t been enough swing-and-miss acquired yet, especially for a staff with the second-lowest strikeout rate (19.4%) in 2023.
Coming off last season’s disappointing last-place finish in the NL Central, St. Louis’ front office must procure a front-line starter – via free agency or trade – to avoid a similar fate next season.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.