White Sox ace Lance Lynn will undergo surgery this week to repair a small tear in his right knee tendon, Sox GM Rick Hahn told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin). Lynn will be sidelined for approximately four weeks before he can throw off a mound again, so the right-hander might not be back until roughly late May, given the recovery period and then a ramp-up period.
The injury seemingly took place last night, when Lynn was in visible pain after throwing a pitch during his final Cactus League start. Lynn immediately left the game and was moving gingerly on his right leg.
There’s no easy way to replace a pitcher of Lynn’s caliber, though the White Sox have Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez as swingmen in their bullpen, plus Jimmy Lambert and non-roster invite Wes Benjamin in the minors. For now, it seems like Velasquez or Lopez will join Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Dylan Cease, and Michael Kopech in Chicago’s rotation.
Given Keuchel’s struggles last season and Kopech’s lack of starting experience, there were already question marks about the amount of starting pitching depth the White Sox had on hand even prior to Lynn’s injury. The Sox focused much of their offseason shopping on upgrading the bullpen as a way of improving the pitching staff overall, yet even the relief corps has been shortened in recent days, as Craig Kimbrel was traded to the Dodgers and Garrett Crochet (also a potential candidate to move into the rotation at some point this year) was lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Carlos Rodon was a big part of the White Sox staff last season, of course, but the southpaw left in free agency to sign with the Giants.
With this in mind, Hahn told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and other media that “we may need to add at some point” from outside the organization. More will be known once Lynn’s timeline becomes a bit clearer, though Hahn is optimistic that Lynn will be fully recovered when he does return to action. Hahn said that Lynn’s injury was similar to Yasmani Grandal’s tendon tear in his left knee, which cost the catcher close to two months of the 2021 season before he was able to get back into the field.
Lynn posted a 2.69 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate, and 7.0% walk rate over 157 innings last season, his first in Chicago after the White Sox acquired him in an offseason trade from the Rangers. Lynn finished third in AL Cy Young voting, marking the third consecutive year that the veteran righty has finished in the top six of Cy Young balloting.
Uh oh
No bueno… Thots and players…
Manny thots
I’m sorry white Sox fans, I drafted Lynn then he went down
Yea thx a lot. Def ur fault
Me too!
Paging Reynaldo Lopez
Paging Frankie Montas
Ouch……
Unfortunately, they’re not free agents.
Were they available the Sox would have to trade something good for them.
Who is “they”? Montas is “he”!
Paging Pee Wee Herman.
I would much rather they give Lopez a shot than do some trade that we regret.
Reyno to the rescue. Let’s see if Ethan can work his magic a la Carlos. Also, not the worst thing if Lance comes back better rested for the playoffs. Lingering effects may explain why he wasn’t quite right v Astros.
We need you to step up now Vincy V!
Good luck with that. Sure he’s reading too.
Oh but he is reading. Says right here in his bio- big fan of MBLTR since the age of 11.
Don’t worry Chisox, Lynn will recover quickly due to the fine condition he keeps himself in.
Manaea would have been a nice fill in. Too bad Hahn is out getting backup catchers and mid-30s OFers instead of young starting pitching.
AJ Pollock is a great addition to the White Sox. Like Kimbrel, he only has one year left on his deal and it’s much more likely that Pollock’s 2022 contributions will be valued higher than Kimbrel’s once the season is done. Hahn should get credit for that deal. With that said, giving up Madrigal for Kimbrel in the first place was not a good move.
Don’t forget Cody Heuer. One year of Pollack for 5/6 years of Madrigal and Heuer each? You don’t want to make a habit of that kind of deal.
TJ Heuer? See you in 2023!
Definitely sub-optimal, but no reason he can’t come back as strong as ever. Guy has electric stuff.
Meh, Madrigal was kind of a dumpster fire. If anything the Sox sold high on him.
Soon enough you’ll regret posting that when you see Madrigal breaking out…
The jury is still out on Madrigal. He’s a very small guy and gets hurt a lot. And he is below average defensively with no power. Those kind of guys aren’t that difficult to replace. And Cody just TJS.
He’d be a great addition if he batted left handed.
This week has been a roller coaster for White Sox fans. They get good news with a trade and it is immediately followed by the bad news of an injury that requires surgery.
Stay tuned…..more coming.
Older and / or burly players seldom get through a season unscathed (and they seldom heal quickly).
–
Put it down to bad luck.
As Branch Rickey often said:
“Luck is the residue of design”.
That would be two injuries that require surgery (Crochet, Lynn)
The Sox are looking at a minimum of 6 weeks without Lance Lynn in the rotation. That’s based on a good surgical outcome, no setbacks with his physical therapy and then a two week rehab stint in the minors to rebuild sufficient arm strength as a starting pitcher.
Cleveland will be competitive based solely on starting pitching and Francona …. This injury opens up the AL Central to more teams. No “true” tanking going on in that division which is rare, will be a close division I think, Chicago probably pulls away late again unless LaRussa loses that team early which in my mind is very possible
TLR’s better with this clubhouse than people give him credit for.
Why would you think that. The players love Tony.
Why White Sox fans cannot have good things
i wonder how much fatter he will get?
Hopefully a lot. That’s where his power comes from.
Harnessing his inner Bartolo?
Hey Blanca, were you sad to see your man Collins gone? I tried to tell you he wasn’t gonna ever make it.
With Collins, the Sox had a the catching duties locked down for the foreseeable future. Zavala was the prospect that should have been dealt…
There’s absolutely no interest in Zavala. Zavala and Collins are both terrible catchers overall. The only reason Collins even garnered this remote flyer (more like filler) is because of pedigree and his remaining minor league option. He has a good eye, and was a good hitter in college. Be thankful the Blue Jays had pity for the White Sox and did them a solid by giving them someone who can apparently actually catch at a nominal level unlike Zavala and Collins.
That’s the beauty of baseball. Players come in all sizes and shapes. There have been plant of rotund pitchers.
White Sox should have signed Robbie Ray or another quality starting pitcher.
That costs money.
Just what I was afraid of but hopefully they caught it early enough to fully repair it and let it heal before he takes the mound again. The extra weight certainly won’t help matters but if it is indeed only a minor tear, it should heal quickly and he should be back to his dominate self by the end of May. They have enough talent left to stay in the lead of the AL Central while he is recuperating.
Yeah and maybe it saves him from wear and tear when it matters- October
Lynn is a fat assed me first dough boy
He’s pretty good. He’s never been dominant.
Should be fine. Most of April, they’re playing trash teams like Detroit, Seattle, Tampa, Cleveland, Minnesota, KC, LAA & Cubs. They should easily go 21 – 4.
Your a clown
@Luke Nowak
Why am I a clown?
First off lots of those teams aren’t trash, many of them are predicted to be in the top half of the league. Additionally that’s not how baseball works, just because your the better team on paper doesn’t mean you’ll win the vast majority of your games The Sox going about 9 games above 500 in a 25 game sample size at against those teams is far from likely.
@Luke Nowak
I’m making a prediction. Do you call Vegas a bunch of clowns when they predict the Dodgers as the favourites to win the world series?
No because there’s is based of off logic. The dodgers are the most likely team to win right now. That’s a good and the right prediction. Saying that teams like the rays are trash is not. Clown may have been harsh tho, I’ve seen crazier predictions of course
I’ll admit as a Sox fan some of those teams are not trash. But the central division is a wrap for the White Sox. They will dominate the division which truly is trash compared to the Sox. A lot of these players on The Sox are about to take another step this year In Their development. Eloy Jimenez is gonna mash. Luis Robert I’m betting will win MVP this year. Dylan Cease is gonna be the best pitcher on the White Sox. He’s got some of the nastiest stuff in baseball. I also expect Kopech to do a lot better then people think. He has the stuff to be the best pitcher in baseball. This team is too talented for their weak division. A guy that gets over looked and can have his best season is Moncada he’s only 26 and has MVP talent if he can put it together
I’m as big of a White Sox fan as anyone, but you need to change those rose colored glasses.
*You’re which is short for “you are”
He’s not wrong that Old York.
Those are not all “trash” teams. However if Lopez
And Keuchel can be effective the positive I take from this is that Lynn’s arm should be strong in Sept/Oct. Can’t say the same for Rodon. I believe his will have fallen off by then.
IF. That’s a mighty big IF
Lol
Rodon has no bearing on the White Sox other than if he pitches against them being he signed with the Giants.
Fnck off Yorkie.
Old York: I think a more likely record will be in the range of at best 16-9 to at worst 10-15.
Sounds about right
Lmmfao
And Giolito looked like crap today too.
Giolito is a poor south sider man’s #3
Giolito is the twins worst Nightmare. He literally looks like an ACE every time he pitches vs the Twins its like 10 plus strikeouts
White Sox are busily scouring the fine print in the CBA just to be sure that there was no realignment and they still get to play in a division with Cle, Min, KC and Det.
Sox divison will be better this year, still bad but it should be better overall then NL central. Royals tigers twins are all much improved and Indians will be usual.
The Sox will win the AL Central…they wouldn’t beat the Brewers in the NL Central.
Yes that’s true, that doesn’t change the fact that as a whole the al central is better then the nl central. The Nls bottom team Reds Pirates Cubs drag them down.
Hahaahaaahaaaaa
The Sox are better than the Brewers.
Get Preller on line 1
Lame. Don’t do a stupid trade Hahn! Challenge some of the young guys to step up!
They will probably trade for another right handed outfielder to replace Lynn.
Lmao you sound very ignorant, the Sox had more then one needs to fill. Trading for pollock was a pretty solid upgrade to a position of need in the outfield. Yes they also need starting pitching but they couldn’t get a quality starter for just Kimbrel, however they were able to get a good outfielder for him. It was clearly the right move
Keep studying and you might understand baseball in a few years.
Explain??? The Sox turned kimbrel into someone who held more value to them. It’s a pretty simple concept to understand.
Kimbrel, at $16mm, had so little value to the White Sox, they could have traded him to Toronto for their backup catcher, and you could have said the same thing.
If anything that just further proves my point that it was a great trade.
You did unwittingly prove his point.
Wonder what the Padres would need to give up to get Vaughn?
Abrams
Hard no on that one. They need a starter and the Padres have plenty.
Wesley Snipes and Rene Russo!
tampa has been in 2 world series, have won the AL east and are ALWAYS in the playoffs.. how are they a ‘ trash team’?
oh, their manager won AL manager of the year, yes they are clearly ‘ trash’
Always? They’re a very well-run team, masterfully manipulating MLB’s revenue-sharing model, but fans ignore when they don’t make the postseason, and then overhyping them when they do. In 24 seasons, they’ve made the postseason 7 times, despite existing during the entire Wild Card era. They’re in a good run the last three years, but missed the playoffs for five straight seasons prior. “Always” is not correct.
If the WSox are willing to trade Vaughn, figure out a long-term “need for need” deal with the Marlins for one of its younger starters they are confident is an area of depth. Miami needs a potential stud hitter. The 2yrs of Montas talk with Vaughn as headliner is where Sox would have regret.
The White Sox evidently feel that one year of Pollack is more valuable than Vaughn, who will now be platooned. Doesn’t seem that the White Sox value Vaughn that highly.
That is a dumb comment.
They’re not trading Vaughn….especially not for a pitcher with just two years of control with a history of PEDs.
I bet the White Sox wish they kept Rodon right about now
Kyle Hendricks to WSox for…?
Cubs are better holding him until the trade deadline. He needs to build some value.
Matthew Thompson
White Sox & Hahn will go all in now. So probably looking at Folty, Cueto or Teheran. The money will be spent.
Sox fans just can’t catch a break. They always seem to get guys right before they decline, would it surprise anyone if they get very little from extending Lynn for 2 years at age 35? I liked the move at the time, he seemed like a workhorse who was unlikely to break down.
Hope they don’t do something stupid to get a pitcher for 2 months. Signing Cueto for a cheap 1 year is probably about the best they can do.
Unfortunately it rings all too true. I’m thinking you’re right about taking a flyer on Cueto. Too many question marks now with their starting rotation in my opinion. Even before this injury I definitely had concerns.
-Kuechel is entirely undependable, let alone his albatross of a contract. Opens the door for his option to vest if he reaches 160 innings at $20 million.
-Kopech is a question mark. He has great stuff, but he’s never even remotely pushed a workload that would be required. The brass has also previously said that they’ll be monitoring his workload. So how much can you truly count on from him?
-Cease has been steadily improving but is still pretty young in terms of service time. He should in theory be coming into his prime. Time will tell. All in all they’re not built to withstand any sort of duress. Any regression of these pitchers seriously puts their lofty aspirations in peril. Velasquez, Lopez are even more volatile when being depended upon. I don’t blame them for letting Rodon walk. Kimbrel being moved for Pollock was a good move (although I wasn’t a fan of what they gave up to acquire Kimbrel last year, I didn’t hate the move, but in hindsight they gave up Madrigal and Heuer for Pollock). Losing Crochet was unfortunate, but they’ve invested heavily into their bullpen even without Kimbrel. Kimbrel looks bad of late anyways. Ultimately I don’t see a World Series caliber team as of right now. Hopefully they’ll prove me wrong. Sorry about the novel.
Hey, I’ll take some props along with SupremeZeus since they just signed Cueto.
What is the status of Cueto? Is he in the US? Does he need to apply for a work visa once signed? The Tigers signed both Pineda and Peralta but neither is in spring training as they are still waiting for theirs. Luckily Pineda still has an option, so he will be sent to AAA to ramp up. If Cueto is not already in the States, he may take several weeks before be can provide help.
You clowns are goin down! Wait till robert smashes into the wall tryin ta chase down one of Correa s bombs. Dudes the white sux suck. Your glory days are OVAH…. Minbesota Twins 2023 AL CENTRAL CHAMPS! Chicago ignoranamus has TWO LOSER TEAMS! BLOW ME!
Two consecutive near first round sweeps constitutes glory days?
Have you bozos seen an October game in this fantasy dynasty run?…. Oh yeah the schedule demands it… Lucky there’s that extra wild card eh? We can’t wait to smash you
Lol at a Twins fan making fun of the White Sox for a lack of postseason success. Twins haven’t won a single game in the playoffs since before the Sox won the World Series.
Lol Correa is all the Twins offense. We can afford letting Correa score you guys some runs. Robert, Jimenez, Anderson, Abreu, Moncada > Cheating Correa
No self-awareness there Twinkie boy.
Johnny Cueto is still available, but you never hear his name mentioned in these situations. He must be leaning toward retirement.