Reunion With Former All-Star May Make Sense For Cardinals After Rough Start To Season
The St. Louis Cardinals have some work to do.
St. Louis certainly has underperformed to open the 2023 season and is 3-7 through 10 games. While 10 games are a small sample size, it certainly shows that the Cardinals have some things to fix. The biggest question marks surrounding the club to open the season is the starting pitching.
The Cardinals have been without the services of longtime hurler Adam Wainwright as he works his way back from injury, but he should be back with the club in the near future. St. Louis' staff has been surprisingly mediocre to open the season and has a 5.96 ERA through 10 games.
Jack Flaherty and Jordan Montgomery have been impressive with 1.80 and 2.25 ERAs through two starts, but rest of the rotation has struggled. While this could be chalked up to slow starts and should improve, if the Cardinals looked to add an external option to the mix through trade, one player to keep an eye out on is current Chicago White Sox hurler Lance Lynn.
Lynn spent the first six years of his MLB career in St. Louis before signing with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent ahead of the 2018 campaign. The 35-year-old currently is a member of the White Sox and has been with Chicago since the 2021 season. The two-time All-Star has been one of the most solid right-handed hurlers in all of baseball over the last few years but could find himself on the move again.
Chicago currently is 5-6 but should be competitive this season. If the White Sox end up struggling, they are a candidate to be trade deadline sellers and Lynn would be one of the biggest trade chips they have. The righty has a club option for the 2024 season and become a free agent ahead of the 2025 campaign. St. Louis should be in World Series contention this season and adding a starting pitcher of Lynn's caliber would be something that helps propel them there.
There's no way for sure to know if Chicago will even consider dealing Lynn, but he's the type of player that could put St. Louis over the top. Lynn has plenty of experience with the Cardinals and a reunion could be a welcomed sight. If he were to be dealt this season it likely wouldn't be until around the trade deadline in July, but Lynn certainly is a player to be on the look out for.
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