Blue Jays Report: Front office “engaged” with Lance Lynn

Lance Lynn, who is part of a deep group of free-agent starters this winter, is apparently drawing the eye of the Blue Jays front office.

While a few arms have been dominating most of the talk, there are several mid-to-low tier arms that could be of interest to several teams going forward. One of the more interesting is former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star Lance Lynn.

The Blue Jays, who haven’t made a free agent signing yet, are “engaged” with Lance Lynn, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Feinsand adds that the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox have also “expressed interest” in Lynn, who turns 32 in May.

Of the above teams, the Rangers and White Sox seem the least likely to be genuinely interested in Lynn’s service; the White Sox acquired starter Ivan Nova from the Pirates Tuesday, while the Rangers appear to be looking elsewhere to bolster their starting rotation. Still, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Rangers are at least mildly interested in pursuing Lynn.

As for Lynn, he could be considered the perfect candidate for a team like the Blue Jays, who are in the process of stockpiling short-term assets to see what works. A veteran of six major-league seasons, he most recently appeared as a member of the division rival Yankees, where he pitched to a 4.14 ERA in 54.1 innings in the second half of the season.

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The first half wasn’t nearly as fruitful for the native of Indianapolis, Indiana, as he pitched to an ugly 5.10 ERA in 102.1 frames, striking out 100 and walking a scary 62. For his career, he’s pitched over 150 innings six times and has struck out over 180 batters three times. His career ERA is a respectable 3.57, and he’s appeared in over 200 major league games, the majority of them as a starter.

It’s worth noting that outside of the above reports, there have been no other rumoured teams in Lynn’s services, signalling somewhat that his market isn’t quite as broad as one would hope. Despite this, it’s certainly possible that he’s signed before the winter meetings come to a conclusion.

Earlier Tuesday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told Ben Nicholson-Smith and other reporters that the team “felt they were getting close to signing a free agent” over the past 24 hours, but the deal didn’t materialize. No other information has surfaced to indicate who that might have been. Could it have been Lynn that Atkins was referring to?

Regardless, Lance Lynn should be a name Blue Jays fans should familiarize themselves with, as it’s certainly possible that he’ll be a person of great interest going forward this offseason.