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On Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals and pitcher Lance Lynn agreed to a three-year deal, as reported by Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
Lynn gets $22M for 3 yrs. #STLCards
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 15, 2015
The three-year contract is reportedly worth a guaranteed total of $22 million. The three years in the contract would buy out his remaining arbitration eligible years. In addition to the guaranteed money, the second and third year of the contract contains performance-based incentives, such as games started, which could boost the value of the contract to $23.5 million.
Lynn, 27, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft. He made his debut in 2011 mostly as a reliever and has put together strong full seasons as a starting pitcher since 2012. He was named an All-Star for the first time in 2012 and finished the season with an 18-7 record with a 3.78 ERA, striking out 180 in 176.0 innings. Over the past two seasons, he has repeated a 15-10 record while exceeding 200.0 innings in each season.
Had Lynn maintained consistency with his recent work, he would be on track to earn far more than the money provided in this contract when he hit free agency. Lynn is sacrificing cashing in on potential free agency upside for short term job security and a financial pay day. For the Cardinals, this is a great team friendly deal for a workhouse pitcher who can log 200 quality innings. In the event of an injury or any decline in his performance on the field, either of which could lower his free agency value, this will be a good deal for Lynn.
