Texas Rangers Free Agency: Is Lance Lynn A Good Fit?

The Texas Rangers have many needs to fill this offseason, especially in the starting rotation. There a several arms available on the free agency market that would be a good fit for the Rangers. Lance Lynn could be a good veteran pitcher to bring to Texas.

Cole Hamels and Martin Perez are the only pitchers that are currently locked into the 2018 rotation. The Texas Rangers will be exploring all avenues to bring in at least two more starters to Arlington. With the farm system not having any Major-League ready arms, the only options are by trade or free agency.

The Rangers currently have roughly $40 million to spend this offseason. With so many spots to fill, adding top-tier pitchers like Jake Arrieta or reuniting with Yu Darvish may be too costly. The Rangers more realistic move will be looking at the second tier of free agent pitchers this winter.

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Lance Lynn will be a highly sought-after pitcher this offseason. With starting pitching being so valuable this time of year, Lynn is set to get a decent size contract. He’s been a very consistent pitcher over the course of his career. He’s 72-48 with a career 3.38 ERA since coming into the Majors in 2011. He has never had a season with an ERA higher than 3.97.

The biggest concern for Lynn is his Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the entire 2016 season. He bounced back and had a solid 2017 campaign, posting a 12-11 record with an impressive 3.03 ERA. The solid year directly after returning is a good sign that he’s still an effective pitcher, but it should be in the back of the minds of GM’s before giving him a hefty payday.

Lance Lynn should be high on the Rangers’ shopping list. He’ll cost somewhere around $15 million per year, but there aren’t many pitchers on the market who are more consistent. He’s not just a pitcher that doesn’t give up a lot of runs, but with a career 8.5 K/9, he makes batters miss a respectful amount of the time, which is something the Rangers desperately lacked in 2017.

Lynn would be a very good pitcher to add to the rotation. It would not solve all pitching issues, but it’s a good place to start.