Reports: White Sox, Rays talking Lance Lynn trade
Lance Lynn is supposed to start for the White Sox against the Cubs tonight. Jesse Scholtens and Tanner Banks each threw two innings Tuesday night.
If reports from Bob Nightengale and Ken Rosenthal are correct, Pedro Grifol might have to improvise.
Nightengale said the White Sox are “engaged in serious talks” with the Rays regarding a deal for Lynn, saying “the two sides have already exchanged names.” Rosenthal, who devoted some time to Lynn’s merit as somebody worth trading for earlier this week, confirmed Nightengale’s report.
UPDATE (11:58 a.m.): Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times says the Rays have interest in Lynn, but “nothing is considered imminent, as they are active in the market and have a similar level of interest in others.”
Meanwhile, Nightengale reiterates the part about names being exchanged, but also adds that the Dodgers “have not give up on their pursuit of Lynn, while also showing interest in White Sox teammate Lucas Giolito.”
Lynn has value. I think he’d be an asset for the Rays.
Since TB has made Diekman useful, there is no doubt in my mind that Lynn will start and win playoff games for them. Iโm sure the return will be a 25 yr old AAA pitcher who had a 3 digit fastball before having Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Later reports will show the Sox were unwilling to add $$$ to get a better prospect.
You might not be too far off lol: https://www.mlb.com/prospects/rays/cole-wilcox-677961
though, tbf, BA ranked Wilcox 9th in their midseason update and the numbers in his last 3 or so starts have been really good.
I know Wilcox has been thrown around because he’s out of options after the year but that feels like a lot to give up for 2 months of a ~$7m Lance Lynn. Wilcox is at 45 FV and would likely slot into the White Sox top 5 prospects. If they do get Wilcox, I’d imagine it’d involve them picking up Lynn’s salary.
True, but his performance in AA has been spotty and his velo hasn’t returned to pre-TJS levels. Who even knows where he would rank in most publications (He’s already out of TB’s top 10 on FG for instance). Just seems like a guy who they think is expendable in a seller’s market.
Looks like he dropped off FG altogether
I noticed that but I’m sure that’s a glitch. His FV page still lists him as a 45 FV and he ranked 11th in Longenhagen’s preseason report. No way he’s less than a 35+ FV now.
Probably right. Either way, sounds like idle speculation for the moment.
Fair enough. Yeah maybe the shine has worn off a bit. Is there any indication that Wilcox is part of the talks, other than Sox fans speculations?
Getting the guy currently listed as their number 8 on MLB.com is pretty optimistic, no? I was looking down at 25 through 30, all of whom are pitchers.
it would be a good get for the sox from the rays perspective they may lose him for nothing via the rule 5 this off season so maybe they give up some added value
Sure, but it’s the opportunity cost. Why not trade Wilcox for someone else? Heck, Wilcox and a couple of fliers is the kind of return I expected for Gioltio.
Youd have to ask them maybe they see something in lynn they like / can fix, etc and this is an acceptable cost for them to make sure they get him
Yeah, fair enough. It does seem like Lynn’s market is robust enough that the Sox can ask for a real prospect. I’ll be thrilled if it’s Wilcox, or a player of that caliber.
Oooh, was he also a former 1st round pick that the Sox really wanted but was picked just before their pick? Lol.
Have the Sox ever included money? This really corks me. The franchise is moribund. They need an infusion of talent. Let’s say Lynn is owed $8M the rest of the year. If the Sox threw in $4M, they’d still save $4M and get a better prospect.
When the payroll was low, they could have easily done this. Penny wise pound foolish.
Taking Tyler Clippard as part of the return in the Drob/Frazier/Kahnle trade is about as close as I can remember.
If Nightengale is right that the Sox have already approached Lynn, a deal must be really close, right? I don’t know how it works obviously but I’d imagine you’d want a deal in place before telling the guy. Maybe there’d be details to work out after approval but I’d think you’d want the deal 95% of the way there.
Well, Rays reporter Marc Topkin threw some water on the flames. He said “nothing is imminent” with Lynn and that the Rays have only discussed Lynn, but he’s one pitcher among others.
Lynn has kind of been a surly bitch lately. Happy to see him go.
Sox fans when Guy doesnโt visibly emote: He doesnโt care, get rid of him.
Sox fans when Guy visibly emotes: heโs a โsurly bitch,โ get rid of him.
He could’ve pitched better if he wanted to get traded. Don’t play like shit and bitch to the media about how you don’t like it here.
There are factors with the Sox that make it hard for pitchers to maximize their results, like having DHs play in the outfielder corners and first and second base. Anyway, saying he needs to play better to get traded seems out of place on a post about his getting traded seemingly imminent.
I didn’t know any corner outfields who can field the ball 20 rows into the bleachers.
Yeah, it would be ridiculous to argue Lynn has been really good, but teams want him, so clearly they think thereโs something there. (It would also be ridiculous to argue that defense doesnโt make a difference to pitching results.)
He’s been getting rocked. There are not a lot of cheap homeruns from him this year. Maybe other teams see a pitch sequencing issue or just overall approach that the Sox have missed, but it is ridiculous to blame defense or luck when opponents have been bashing him all over the park.
Yeah, again, no one said Lynn has been great, but there are certainly reasons why a pitcher wouldnโt be able to achieve their best results with this team, and none of them are related to his being a โsurly bitch.โ
I’m surprised by the Dodgers’ interest. Lynn gives up a lot of HR’s to left-handed hitters.
Over the last 3 years, the HR park factor for left-handed hitters for Guaranteed Rate has been 109 while Tampa Bay’s has been 87 and Dodger Stadium is 120.
Dodgers are down to Gonsolin and Urias, they have to get at least one SP maybe 2, rental preferred.
Rays may have just lost another SP as Elfin left early today and will get an MRI tomorrow.
Baltimore is another obvious target. I’m a little surprised things are starting with Lynn before Gio but things will get to him very soon too.
He’s always been abrasive, that’s not new. I think most fans overlooked it when he was going better.
That’s kinda his brand
If you signed an extension under the impression the team would be competitive and got this, you would be surly too
Not if I was a big reason they weren’t competitive. Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy — Surly!
Is anyone else leery of trading with the Rays? Like a “what do we not know about this guy that the Rays are giving up on him” type feeling.
But candidly, that feeling can be said for anyone the Sox acquire based on their player development track record.
…No? Maybe just me?
Not just you. There’s a reason this tweet exists:
Yeah, but do we really worry about it in this specific context? Iโd be worried about getting fleeced if we were dealing Cease to them, but anyone you get for Lynn is a lottery ticket anyway, right?
Yeah, that’s exactly my thoughts. I would be wary of trading Robert or Cease to the Rays, but teams aren’t going to be lining up to give us a bounty for Lynn. The Rays will probably get him back on track and he’ll be a stud for them, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen with us and aren’t being offered a ton from around the league for a couple of months of a struggling pitcher.
Iโd be much more leery of sending a prospect to them than vice versa. While they havenโt been basly burned per se, teams have successfully skimmed decent players off the top of their perennial 40-man crunch because their dev staff is *so* good at producing major leaguers. Texas got Nate Lowe for not a ton, for example.
I hope Hahn says, “let me print off a list of the 11-30 prospects on your MLB.com top 30 list. I’ll pin it to the wall, throw a dart, and whoever I hit for Lynn.” That’d be a fair trade, at least.
He’d just miss the wall with the dart.
I was going to say he’d come away with a hand full of magic beans, but your comment is funnier. Well done.
Straight out the window into a bystander’s head
You only say that because you haven’t considered how much money Jerry is going to save by trading him.
Trading with the Rays is risky stuff, tho Texas did come out ahead when they snagged Nate Lowe.
Theyโre usually overstuffed with ready-ish utility types and pretty decent young relievers. I donโt expect Lynn to command a whole lot, but some long-term depth on the infield and bullpen could be a reasonable ask and get?
Added to the story with this from TB’s beat writer:
There should be a conveyor belt running players out of town right now. No reason to ride out the string with any expiring contracts even if they have to eat money to move them. They have 60 games for open tryouts to see if they have anything of value for next year, not including the main/top prospects. In addition, Anderson and Vaughn should be moved now, selling low is necessary, everything must go.
Theres no reason to rush to trade Vaughn, who is still under Cheap control for 3 more years. Hes also ice cold right now and nursing an injury to boot.
I read that as 3 more years of cheap crap left.
And now Nightengale says the Dodgers are in on Lynn! Two elite teams bidding over Lance Lynn must have Rick Hahn feeling like that guy in Parks & Rec who finds himself confusedly in the middle of a bidding war for his bland, fifteen-passenger vans.
TB and LAD are both in on Lynn? Arguably the two best, most analytic teams with a great record of player development at both the minor and major league level? What do they know about Lynn that the Sox donโt? Now I am convinced that thereโs a tweak they will make that turns Lynn into a stud again. Maybe RH should ask both teams which players they want. Hahn would then know which players to keep and focus on.
To be fair, some peripherals have looked good with Lynn all year. It’s why I pushed back on the “Lynn is toast” mob earlier in the season. For example, xFIP and xERA look a lot better than their counterparts. His BABIP is running the highest of his career, so he’s gotten unlucky. His K/9 are at his career high. Problem is, the dude really struggles with LHP and a stunning 21% (!) of FB he gives up are home runs.
Oh, and playing 1B all over the diamond can’t exactly help matters.
Let’s hope he throws a no-no against the flubs. His value goes up and more importantly, he beats the flubs. Ok, I’m getting greedy now. I just want him to beat the flubs.
if the dodgers and rays are interested, that is basically screaming โthe data says this guy is a clear adjustment or two away from being really really good againโ
Feel like that is most of the team though, crazy how lack of player development can just torpedo a franchise.
Agreed.
They also both have pitcher’s parks and Lynn’s biggest issue is HR’s. Convert a bunch of his HR’s to long flyouts and he’s not a bid pitcher anymore.
Just checked and apparently Dodger Stadium now has a high HR factor so withdrawn on the Dodgers. Still true of the Rays though.
Could be wrong, but I just dont see any deal happening without Jerry’s favorite trade asset involved: Cash Considerations
Hahn is so stupid we might get Diekman back. Or worse, someone like Diekman but younger and with loads of year of ‘control’
I’m just want to draw attention to this comment as the idea of trading for Diekman is the funniest comment of the week.
cant wait for the Hahn to try and spin any trade as a way to improve the team for the future, even if the value ends up being anything but a blips for a year or two before development stalls out inevitably. Go Sox
trading away an expiring contract for a young player is usually intended to improve the team for the future, yes
Guess the point is more about not trusting Hahn to execute an equitable trade anyways
Nightengale is PR hack for Ebenezer Reinsdorf & Co. He has no journalistic integrity. I don’t think a trade is imminent. I think he is trying to help the Sox pump up the return for Lynn and or trying to get other teams involved. Hope no one is stupid enough to fall the Sox tricks.
Well, I certainly do hope someone is dumb enough to fall for them. I get being beyond frustrated with this org, but come on now.
Trade Lynn, Gio, Vaughn, Sheets, Burger, Graveman, Middleton, Anderson, Lopez, Jimenez and Kelly at the minimum.
Prepare to be disappointed if those are your expectations. Iโll be surprised if Hahn gets deals done for half that amount of guys.
To be fair, it isn’t very often any team trades 11 players off its 26-man roster at the deadline. There just isn’t a market for that many players.
I can’t be the only person here who has had a garage sale where I couldn’t sell everything I wanted to get rid of even when I tried to give it away.
Yep, he needs to concentrate on the expiring contracts first. Giolito, Lynn, Grandal, Middleton, Rey and Kelly and possibly TA should be the priorities. Sheets and Andrus are just giveaways. Bummer and Graveman are possible if someone really wants them. But Hahn has trouble making one trade at a time. He’ll certainly get fleeced if he tries several.
Well yeah, especially with that specific list of guys. Vaughn, Sheets, Burger – the market is not hot for below average DHs.
Wait a minute! They all can multiple positions!
Could be a market for Burger not that it would be hot. He is a potentially interesting playoff piece as a bench bat to crush a lefty.
Vaughn, I just dont see why any contending team would want to pay for the extra years of control when hes had a putrid July.
Sheets has no market. Thinking the sox could trade him is laughable.
I’ll be surprised if RH gets a single deal done and flabbergasted if he gets 2.
Iโm thinking Middleton for a PTBNL and Hahn kicks his feet up, lights a cigar, and congratulated himself for being active at the deadline.
Although unlikely, the existential thought is: remember who is in charge of said trades, and who is in charge of evaluating the performance of person making trades. Thats when it gets hard to care about anything with this team
Yes
Remember in ’21 when Nightingale said Eduardo Escobar “was on his way” to the Sox?
Nothing any of the Sox media shills say has any value whatsoever. Nightengale has proved about as reliable as anybody the Sox try in RF. The last half dozen things he’s said have proved that most of the time he is either lying or doesn’t know a damned thing.
Raysโ Eflin departed his start today with knee discomfort, headed for MRI. Lynn price just went up a tick
Nah, thatโll just result in the Rays targeting a better pitcher than Lynn.
“perhaps you would like to take this low-mileage Giolito for a spin”
Dodgers get Amed Rosario from the Guards, don’t know what it cost them yet but probably a good deal. At least better than TA would’ve been.
Rosario’s been a negative bWAR player this season who is a free agent at the end of this season so it’s no surprise Cleveland moved him.
He’s been hitting .301/.335/.415 since the end of May but yea not that surprising they traded him.
Better than his April/May but not enough bat to make up for โ15 OAA (tied for worst in MLB with Schwarber).
For context, Vaughn in the outfield was the worst in MLB in 2022 at โ20 OAA (for the full season).
Great, he’ll be our new RFer next year.
Would be fitting if the Guards wind up getting prospects from the Dodgers while Hahn sits on his ass. With nothing happening yet, I’m beginning to wonder if Jerry told Hahn to do nothing, just to spite the fanbase. I sincerely wonder if, having read a lot of criticism directed toward him, Jerry isn’t saying to himself “fuck the fans”.
If they do nothing this deadline, I’m done paying attention to this nonsense.
Syndergaard is the return for Cleveland. Interestingโฆ
So what this tells us is that the Aox donโt want to trade Lynn to the Rays for a player or players to be named later. Ok, thenโฆ