It’s not often that a starting pitcher with a 13-5 record and 3.89 ERA gets dumped from the rotation and demoted to the bullpen less than two months after making the All-Star team, but that’s exactly what happened to Lance Lynn.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny decided to pull Lynn from the rotation in favor of rookie Joe Kelly and not surprisingly Lynn isn’t happy about the move. Matheny indicated to Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post Dispatch that Lynn could be moved back into the rotation if needed, but for now he’ll be in the mix for key spots as a reliever.
Lynn was 12-4 with a 3.10 ERA as recently as July 22, but in six starts since then he posted a 7.31 ERA while allowing opponents to hit .339 with a .990 OPS. Joe Kelly, meanwhile, has a 3.26 ERA in 77 innings and has allowed more than three runs just once in 12 starts. Too much quality starting pitching is certainly a very nice problem to have, although Lynn probably doesn’t see it quite that way.
