Sources: Lynn reunites with Cards on 1-year deal
-
Jeff Passan, ESPN
Right-hander Lance Lynn and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed on a one-year contract with a club option that guarantees $10 million and reunites the 36-year-old with the team that drafted him a decade and a half ago, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN on Monday.
Lynn, who spent the first six seasons of his career with the Cardinals, has bounced around to five teams since leaving St. Louis and returns after a season in which he posted an elite strikeout rate but struggled with the home run ball.
The deal, which includes performance bonuses and escalators and is pending a physical, could be worth up to $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 for him at the trade deadline, and he was better there, posting a 4.36 ERA but still yielding 16 home runs in 64 innings.
The Cardinals entered the winter seeking 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, along with young left-handers Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson and Drew Rom, all of whom started games to varying degrees of effectiveness last season.
St. Louis’ poor pitching led to the team’s worst full season, with a 71-91 record, since 1990.
Starting pitching is the most plentiful 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 they traded him to the Texas Rangers — all available. There are also frontline pitchers on the trade market, with Tampa Bay‘s Tyler Glasnow, Chicago’s Dylan Cease and Milwaukee‘s Corbin Burnes among them.
The Cardinals’ glut of position players could position them for a potential deal. Outfielder Tyler O’Neill is a year 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 chosen by St. Louis out of Mississippi with the 39th overall pick in 2008. A reliable innings eater, he has thrown 1,889 innings, struck out 1,906 and walked 660 while allowing 215 home runs.
TORONTO — Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez was back in the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, two days after the third baseman left in the third inning because of a mild right ankle sprain.
The six-time All-Star was injured when he stumbled and fell while crossing first base on an infield single. Ramirez went down after being struck in the back by a throw from Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt.
Ramirez was batting third Sunday against right-hander Bowden Francis.
Ramírez sat out Saturday when Cleveland beat Toronto 5-3. He went 2 for 2 before departing Friday, boosting his average to .274. He has five home runs and 15 RBIs in 31 games.
In last Thursday’s 4-3 victory over Minnesota, Ramirez became the first primary third baseman to reach 250 homers and 250 stolen bases.
The Miami Marlins activated catcher Nick Fortes from the 10-day injured list Sunday morning. To make room for him on the active roster, starting second baseman Otto Lopez was placed on the 10-day injured list.
Fortes, the Marlins’ Opening Day catcher, posted six hits in 20 at-bats with two doubles, one triple and one RBI in seven appearances before going on the IL on April 10 with an injured left oblique muscle. The 28-year-old missed 20 games as the Marlins went 7-13 without him. To prepare for Sunday’s return, he rehabbed for two games at Triple-A Jacksonville and went 0-for-6.
Fortes figures to split time with 23-year-old rookie catcher Agustin Ramirez, who has delivered a .256/.293/.615 slash line with three homers and five RBIs in 10 games during his first stint in the bigs.
The 26-year-old Lopez hits the injured list, retroactive to Saturday, with a sprained right ankle. Lopez started the season hot with a .400 average to go with two homers, six RBIs and one stolen base during five games in March. Since then, he has batted .191 (17-for-89) with no homers, five RBIs and two steals.
Rookie Javier Sanoja, 22, has filled Lopez’s spot at second base the last two games and provided two doubles, two runs and one RBI in seven at-bats.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway