Another day, another blow to the St. Louis Cardinals roster, as the team announced on Friday that former All-Star starting pitcher Lance Lynn was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right forearm strain, something that’s been bothering him “for the last month or so,” according to GM John Mozeliak. In a corresponding roster move, the team recalled left-hander Tyler Lyons from AAA Memphis to take Lynn’s spot in the rotation. Lyons will make the start Saturday against the Royals.
The third Cardinals player to land on the disabled list in the last 3 1/2 weeks, Lynn joins ace Adam Wainwright, setup man Jordan Walden, and three and four hitters Matt Holliday and Matt Adams on the shelf for the redbirds. However, unlike the others, Lynn is expected to return as soon as eligible, June 24, since his DL stint can be backdated to Monday. Lynn is only in line to miss two starts between now and then, when the Cards open up a three-game series in Miami.
Although the soreness had been bothering Lynn occasionally for some time, he told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com that the pain worsened as he labored through five innings against the Dodgers on Sunday, throwing 98 pitches and talking with team trainers as well as manager Mike Matheny both between innings and during trips to the mound. Although Lynn downplayed the discomfort after that start, saying it’s something he’d experienced many times before, the team sent Lynn back to St. Louis during their three game series in Colorado and get an MRI and other tests to rule out anything more serious.
That MRI of Lynn’s shoulder revealed no structural damage, and while GM John Mozeliak said Lynn could likely have pitched through the injury if needed, the team opted to give him a little rest. “We just felt like with the tightness he was experiencing, giving him a layoff would help,” Mozeliak told Langosch. “I think we just have to keep an eye on him. He’s a unique pitcher in that he throws a lot of fastballs, likes to change speeds with that and that should help him in the long run.”
Although understandably unhappy about the situation, Lynn didn’t seem concerned about the injury and expressed his approval about the decision to shut things down a but (via Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch):
“A little forearm strain, as it looks right now, should be a normal 15 days and make sure we get everything calmed down — make sure it’s not something that flares up as the year goes on and I don’t try to pitch through something and make it worse or make something else bad.”
“We might as well do it now,” Lynn said of the shutdown. “Sometimes it’s not smart (to pitch). (The doctors) are the smart ones — they have degrees — so I’ll listen to them.”
Manager Mike Matheny told reporters on Friday, including Rob Rains of STL Sports Page, that it’s “just part of the baseball season,” and that it’s just another opportunity for someone else to step up. “It was one of those things we probably could have just kept pushing through, but at this point, let’s give somebody else a chance to come in and do what they need to do to keep us where we need to be.”
Lynn has been undergoing treatment since his start on Sunday, and has already noticed measurable improvement. He plans to begin throwing some time this weekend and will slowly ramp things up as he prepares to return as soon as eligible. John Mozeliak also believes that right-hander will return as soon as the 15 days are up (via Rains):
“We’re optimistic it’s only going to be the 15 days, but we did not want to push through this and have this thing become larger than it had to be. I talked to him yesterday and he was already sensing improvement. Allowing him some time and not having him make this next start is in his best interest… Unfortunately it’s hard to just miss one and then have the pressure to throw the next. We thought it would just be easier for everyone involved to give him the 15 days.”
This marks just the second time in his five major-league seasons that Lynn has landed on the disabled list. The first time was during his rookie season in 2011, when he missed nearly two months with an oblique strain.
As for Lynn’s replacement in the rotation, lefty Tyler Lyons, the Cardinals are certainly getting a ‘hot hand’ from Memphis, as the 27-year-old has thrown 13 consecutive scoreless innings over his last two starts, striking out 13.
“Lyons has thrown very well since he has been down there,” Mozeliak told Rains. “We really felt like Tyler deserved this shot and we wanted to give it to him. Hopefully he takes advantage of it.”
Overall this season, Lyons is 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA and 56 strikeouts over 43 1/3 innings at Memphis. Despite his success in the minors, Lyons will enter his start Saturday looking to snap an eight-game losing streak that spans all the way back on May 28, 2013, his second career start.
Featured image used under Creative Commons from Keith Allison. No changes made. Image license.
Lyons image used under Creative Commons from Alex Lewis. Image license.
