The Chicago White Sox are expecting big things from their rotation in 2021. A large reason for that is the addition of Lance Lynn. They acquired Lynn not long after the 2020 season came to an end when they sent Dane Dunning to the Texas Rangers. It is a trade that makes it clear that the White Sox are all in on their window being open now. He is going to be a big part of a rotation that they are expecting big things from this year.
In 2020, missing that good third starter was apparent all year long. Dylan Cease was fine but he wasn’t someone who you could rely on to be the perfect number three in a playoff series. He has the potential to be an ace but there is so much more development to go. That is why having Lynn take that role with them works out perfectly.
Lynn and Lucas Giolito are both right-handed pitchers. Because of that, it makes sense to run Lynn as the number three with Dallas Keuchel (a lefty) in between them. It is a three-headed monster that is as good as any trio in the entire league. The White Sox made a brilliant move bringing this guy into the mix.
On a lowly Texas Rangers team in 2020, Lynn was awesome. He went 6-3 with an ERA of 3.32 and a WHIP of 1.060. He had a total of 89 strikeouts in 84.0 innings pitched. All of that accumulated a 2.2 WAR and a sixth-place Cy Young finish. That was the second year in a row that he had a top-six finish too. If he pitches like this for the White Sox in 2021, they really will have one of the game’s most elite rotations.
2021 Expectations:
The Chicago White Sox are expecting Lynn to be one of their three best starters. He doesn’t have to win the Cy Young or anything like that (he can if he wants to, though) but he does have to produce several good outings. You can expect him to not miss a beat coming to this team and put up really good numbers once again. The pressure is off of him because he isn’t even the top dog anymore. He will also have a good offense giving him run support and a bullpen that can close out his quality starts. It should be fun watching Lynn play this year.