Texas Rangers to receive two prospects in trade with White Sox for Lance Lynn
The winter meetings may have been canceled, but that didn’t stop the Texas Rangers from making a big splash on what would have been the first day of what is considered the kickoff to baseball’s offseason market.
The Rangers agreed late Monday to trade right-hander Lance Lynn to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for two minor-league pitchers., a source confirmed. The Rangers are to receive right-hander Dane Dunning, who made his MLB debut in 2020, and left-hander Avery Weems, according to reports.
Lynn finished sixth in voting for the American League Cy Young award in 2020 after leading the majors in innings pitched. He went 6-3 with a 3.32 ERA, a number that ballooned after he allowed 10 runs in his final start.
His contract for 2021 is for only $8 million, which made him one of the most attractive trade pieces in baseball this offseason after the Rangers held him at the Aug. 31 trade deadline. Dealing him was a priority with the Rangers in a full-blown rebuild mode.
Dunning is the prize in return. He was ranked as the White Sox’s No. 4 prospect by Baseball America, and went 2-0 with a 3.97 in his rookie season.
He was expected to begin the season in the White Sox’s rotation and now becomes a front-runner to be in the Rangers’ starting five. Veteran holdovers Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles are the only two starters assured of jobs.
Dunning, though, didn’t pitch in 2019 as he recovered from Tommy John surgery and the Rangers could have some concern about how that could effect his 2021 workload. The Rangers have already said they will monitor the innings of Kyle Cody, who also didn’t pitch in 2019 because of Tommy John surgery but pitched well in 2020 (1-1, 1.59) in his MLB debut season.
While the Rangers aren’t expected to be players in free agency this offseason, they have made three significant decision in the past week. They announced that Isiah Kiner-Falefa will replace Elvis Andrus as the starting shortstop, they hired Chris Young as general manager while keeping Jon Daniels as president of baseball operations, and now they have agreed to trade Lynn.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 12:38 AM.
