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.
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 (71-91) since 1990.
