If you were wondering whether Lance Lynn’s second half struggles last year had a physical component – he missed time midseason with a forearm issue, which is sometimes a precursor to bigger problems – now you’ve got an answer:
#STLCards pitcher Lance Lynn underwent "Tommy John" surgery earlier today. Lynn, 28, will miss the 2016 season.
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) November 10, 2015
Oof. That’s a significant blow to the Cardinals, who yesterday lost top pitching prospect Alex Reyes to a drug suspension.
Lynn, 28, was a 3+ WAR pitcher for the Cardinals each of the past three seasons, and had been one of the most reliable arms in a rotation that had undergone a fair bit of turnover.
Now, the Cardinals will face a 2016 rotation without Lynn, with Adam Wainwright coming back from an Achilles injury that cost him most of 2015, with John Lackey possibly signing elsewhere in free agency, with Carlos Martinez’s 2015 season ending with a shoulder injury, and with Michael Wacha looking awfully hittable in the second half of 2015.
That’s a mess. They’ll undoubtedly do a great deal this offseason to repair things, but to say they’ll have serious questions next year, absent a spending and trading spree, is putting it mildly. Look for them to get mighty aggressive in free agency.