Louis Cardinals SP Lance Lynn Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

The Cardinals’ official Twitter account stated that he would miss the entire 2016 season. MLB.com stated that the team didn’t know until recently that he was having any elbow troubles. Lynn signed a three-year contract worth $22 million last offseason, so he doesn’t have to worry about the procedure hurting future arbitration salaries. Lynn missed a couple of starts in June with a forearm strain. He will be getting paid $7.5 million next season while recovering.

Lynn topped 175 innings in 2015 for the fourth consecutive season and made 30 starts for the third consecutive season. ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield threw out Zack Greinke and David Price as options as well, citing a heightened desperation from the Cardinals to bolster the pitching staff after shoulder issues ended Carlos Martinez’s season prematurely. Michael Wacha didn’t get hurt – he had a stress fracture in his shoulder in 2013 – but was clearly worn late in the season. Wainwright made only a handful of relief appearances at the end of the regular season and in the division series, although the team anticipates he’ll be 100 percent for spring training. Jaime Garcia had a good 2015 season but is also very injury prone. Even if the Cardinals are able to work out an arrangement with Lackey for 2016 and possibly beyond, Buehrle would be a great player to bring in as a sixth starter and an insurance policy for the starting rotation.

Given the options, unless John Mozeliak and the Cardinals had already meant to make a splash, either a trade, a quick deal with John Lackey, or a wait and see approach seem to be the most likely scenarios.

If Lackey rejects the offer and decides to hit the open market, however, there’s another obvious candidate who would be a nearly-perfect fit to fill in for Lynn next year: St. Louis native Mark Buehrle, a 16-year major-league veteran who spent 2015 with the Toronto Blue Jays.