Lance Lynn was Texas Rangers’ best pitcher. Here’s why they decided to trade him
The Texas Rangers didn’t have to trade right-hander Lance Lynn, one of baseball’s best starting pitchers the past two seasons and one of the few players who was worth watching in 2020.
They could have attempted to extend his contract or trade him at the deadline or re-sign him after the season.
They are going to be a worse team now that he has been shipped to the Chicago White Sox for two pitching prospects.
But the Rangers are rebuilding. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. It has been their stated direction since late August.
When they say they will be rebuilding in 2021, they are saying they aren’t going to be very good.
And rebuilding teams trade away veterans for young players. It’s part of the Rebuild 101 textbook. It doesn’t make sense to hold a veteran in the final year of his contract when the return could be six years of relatively affordable production from each player coming in return.
And when the White Sox dangled one of their top pitching prospects and another intriguing arm, Daniels had to trade Lynn.
So it’s done. Lynn goes where he always wants to be, onto the roster of a playoff contender, and right-hander Dane Dunning and left-hander Avery Weems get thrown onto a blueprint for potential future success.
“I think we’re all of the mindset that we’re going to push the group that we put together this year,” president of baseball operations Jon Daniels said. “It’s going to be a young group, a talented group, and certainly a group that can maybe come quicker and overachieve.
“But we’re also of the mindset that our priority is to build a talent base and a group of players that want to overachieve and win together. We feel like we added to that here. We feel like holding onto Lance for one year or extending him didn’t make as much sense given the backdrop of what we’re trying to accomplish long-term.”
Dunning is the prize of the haul. He was ranked as the White Sox’s No. 4 prospect by Baseball America after making his MLB debut in 2020, and he will likely slide into the same spot in the Rangers’ prospect rankings.
He is a major-league-ready starter, something the Rangers desperately need. He doesn’t necessarily wow scouts with one particular pitch, but he throws five of them and commands them all.
His two best pitches are a two-seam fastball that sits 90-93 mph and a slider. Both pitches and his changeup are considered above-average, while his curveball is average. Dunning also throws a four-seam fastball.
He might never been more than a No. 3 starter, but he should be durable as long as he maintains the control he has shown throughout the minors.
He already underwent Tommy John surgery, missing the 2019 season, and estimates that he logged around 90 innings in 2020 between the alternate camp and the 34 innings he covered in the first seven starts of his career.
Daniels said the Rangers are likely to monitor Dunning’s innings in 2021 just as they will Kyle Cody, who is on a similar path back from Tommy John, but he is expected to pitch in the big leagues in 2021.
Dunning said he’s ready to handle a full workload and to compete for a rotation spot in spring training after gaining confidence in his first taste of the majors.
“Once I got on the mound and was pitching in the game, it’s the same game I’ve been playing since I was a little kid and it’s the same game I’ve been practicing every day,” said Dunning, who went 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA and logged a postseason appearance. “Once I was able to start getting into the game and start pitching to each hitter, confidence came a lot faster and I felt a comfortable on the mound.”
Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles are the two veteran holdovers from the 2020 rotation. The Rangers aren’t sure how they will cover 162 games’ worth of innings, but Daniels said they will be adding veteran starters this off-season and are working on ways to manipulate the bullpen to accommodate any young, developing starters who aren’t stretched out or who are working on innings limits.
That, too, is what rebuilding teams do.
