It was a little bit scary when the Chicago White Sox traded Dane Dunning to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Lance Lynn. Dunning is a young prospect pitcher that could end up being really good someday. Lance Lynn is an established elite starter but he only had 2021 left on his current deal before he hit the free-agent market. Well, now the one worry with the trade is in the rearview mirror.
The Chicago White Sox and Lance Lynn have agreed on a two-year, 38 million dollar extension. It was announced on Saturday afternoon much to the delight of White Sox fans. Everyone has wanted to see this for a very long time now.
It wasn’t long into Lynn’s White Sox tenure that he was deemed a fan favorite. The fact that he is intense, kind of mean, and obsessed with winning is perfect for the White Sox organization. The fan base is obsessed with their team but they haven’t done a lot of winning over the last decade or so. Having Lynn there is going to really provide a boost.
The fact that it is only a two-year extension is also nice. At 34 years old, it isn’t like Lynn is some young kid anymore. He has been in the league for a long time and you never want to give elite players in his situation bad contracts. This is as perfect of a contract as you can get for Lynn.
Lance Lynn has been everything the Chicago White Sox needed and more in 2021.
Lance Lynn was named to his second career all-star game because of how good he was in the first half. He is currently 9-3 with an ERA of 1.99 and 105 strikeouts. He is the perfect piece for the middle of the White Sox rotation over the next few years. If Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease, and Carlos Rodon keep it up, along with the addition of Michael Kopech, they should have a World Series caliber rotation for a while.
This has been a long time coming for Lynn. He has been a top-six Cy Young Award winner for two years in a row right now and he has to be considered a favorite for the award here in 2021 right now. He might downplay the possibility of that happening but it would be a really nice thing for him to have in his career. It would also help the team a lot because if he wins it, that means that they continued to win lots of games that he started. At this point, don’t be surprised if Lynn gets the ball in game one of the playoffs.