Fantasy Fallout: Lance Lynn Undergoes Tommy John Surgery, Out 2016 Season
By Bill Pivetz
This season was filled with a lot of injuries. Strained hamstring, broken bones and Tommy John surgeries. I thought next season would start with a clean bill of health, but that isn’t the case. The Winter Meetings haven’t even started yet and we already have our first injury. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn underwent Tommy John surgery on Tuesday and will miss the 2016 season. Here is the fantasy fallout from the news.
Lynn entered the league in 2011. He made just two starts, but appeared in 18 games. In his first full season as a starter, 29 starts, he went 17-5 with a 3.67 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 2.81 K/BB ratio.
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He then went 30-20 with a combined 3.35 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 2.56 K/BB ratio in 2013 and 2014.
This past season was a bit of a down year for Lance Lynn. He went just 12-11 with a 3.03 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 2.46 K/BB ratio. He stayed consistent with his groundball rate (44.2 percent) and lowered his fly ball rate (36 percent to 34.1 percent). He finished as the 42nd-best pitcher and 158th player overall on the Player Rater.
The Cardinals will have the returning Adam Wainwright to join Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Jaime Garcia in the rotation. The team will have one spot to fill with the loss of Lance Lynn, the departing John Lackey and a 50-game suspension to prospect Alex Reyes. The Cardinals are likely forced to spend a little extra money on the free agency market for a big-time pitcher.
The market for starting pitchers is very deep this year, unlike in years’ past and include some top names. Some of those pitchers include David Price, Zack Greinke, Jordan Zimmerman and Johnny Cueto. In a lower tier are Jeff Samardzija, Mark Buehrle and Doug Fister among others. If any of those names sign with the Cardinals, they join an average rotation with a struggling offense.
As far as Lance Lynn goes, he is obviously not draftable in redraft leagues and a end-of-draft steal in 2017 drafts. Lynn will be 30 years old when he, hopefully, returns to the mound. There isn’t much fantasy value in 30-year-old pitcher in this day and age.