8 Cardinals who should be playing their final games for St. Louis this weekend

Lance Lynn

Like Mikolas, Lance Lynn's presence is redundant with how many other back-end arms they have. I do find Lynn to be a more valuable starter than Mikolas at this point, but even so, I don't think it makes sense to have Lynn back for one more season.

When the Cardinals brought in both Lynn and Kyle Gibson this offseason, their main hope for both was that they'd post for 30+ starts and that they'd also provide them with a bunch of quality starts along the way. They did not need to be world beaters, but going six or more innings while allowing three or fewer earned runs each time was ideal.

Lynn did not provide the Cardinals with the number of starts they had hoped for or go deep into games very often, but he did manage to be a valuable member of their staff with his overall run prevention in 2024.

Lynn's crazy high 2.16 HR/9 came back down to earth this year, allowing him to work his way out of trouble frequently and post a 3.84 ERA in his 23 starts. He averaged just about five innings a start though, which wasn't ideal but wasn't the end of the world with the way he kept runs off the board.

There are a few issues with the idea of bringing back Lynn to me though. First, Lynn has been mostly on the decline for the last few years and will turn 38 midway through the 2025 season. It is hard for me to believe that he's going to continue to find success, especially since he outperformed his FIP by a good amount in 2024.

Second, is there enough of a benefit that Lynn can give the Cardinals in 2025 that makes him worth the $12 million they'd pay him and take away a rotation spot from a young arm? Probably not.

Even though I'd rather have Lynn than guys like Mikolas or Matz in the rotation, it does not seem like a worthwhile investment to bring him back for next season.