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The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot of work to do this off-season, and they’ve been active in the early going. The team agreed to one year contracts with Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson.
Former Cardinal Returns
The Cardinals and Lynn are in agreement on a one-year contract with a club option for the 2025 season, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Lynn will earn around $10MM on the contract. The deal also contains $3MM in potential performance incentives. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the option is valued at $12MM.
Lynn was selected by the Cardinals with the No. 39 overall pick in the 2008 draft. The right-hander spent the first six seasons of his career in St. Louis, establishing himself as a true innings eater throwing 977 2/3 innings of 3.38 ERA ball. Lynn rejected a qualifying offer from the Cardinals in 2016. That offseason he signed with the Twins.
Things in Minnesota didn’t go well, but Lynn returned to form the following seasons. From 2019-22, Lynn was one of the American League’s best starters. He pitched 571 innings with an ERA of 3.42. However, the 2023 season was the worst season of his career. He was baseball’s most homer-prone pitcher in 2023, surrendering around two homeruns per nine innings. Undoubtedly, the Cardinals are hoping that a homecoming will help Lynn turn things around and return to form.
Right-handed Veteran Headed to St. Louis
The Cardinals and 36 year old right-hander Gibson have agreed to a deal reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. It’s a one year deal plus a 2025 option, per Nightengale. Jesse Rogers of ESPN also reported that Gibson will make $12MM. Gibson spent 2023 with the Orioles on a one-year, $10MM deal. He took the mound 33 times for the O’s and logged 192 innings with an ERA of 4.73. He only struck out 19.5% of batters faced but showed excellent control by keeping walks to a minimum. The righty should be considered a back of the rotation innings eater and nothing more.
Cardinals Still Have Work Ahead
Understandably, Cardinal fans are underwhelmed by the recent signings. It seems as if the front office is loading up the roster with a bunch of back of the rotation starters when the true need is at the top. However, the Cardinals’ pitching is in such disarray that they need to build an entirely new pitching staff. It may not be what fans want to hear, but the pitching is so far gone that it is probable it can’t be fixed in one off-season. The front office has a long way to go to fix the mess they created, and fans are getting more impatient by the day.
