Lance Lynn finished sixth in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2020, one spot behind Chicago White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel and one ahead of Sox ace Lucas Giolito.
Lynn joined Giolito and Keuchel in the Sox rotation Tuesday as the team announced a trade with the Texas Rangers. The Sox sent pitchers Dane Dunning and Avery Weems to the Rangers in exchange for the veteran right-hander.
“We’re in good shape in the front three, we feel like,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. “We have high hopes for Dylan Cease to continue to develop and look forward to him working with (new pitching coach) Ethan (Katz). Michael Kopech coming back will be a nice shot in the arm, and Reynaldo Lopez still has a world of talent.
“That said, whether it’s over the course of the next few weeks or over the course of the summer, we’ll still be on the lookout for possible ways to improve the pitching staff.”
Lynn’s arrival provides crucial experience and depth for the Sox rotation. And it’s a signal of the big goals in 2021.
Here’s how the rotation could potentially stack up.
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Lucas Giolito
Lucas Giolito, 26, had the top two pitching performances of 2020 for the Sox. He pitched the 19th no-hitter in franchise history Aug. 25 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Guaranteed Rate Field. Giolito matched a career high with 13 strikeouts while allowing just one walk in the 4-0 victory.
And he took a perfect game into the seventh inning of Game 1 of the AL wild-card series against the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 29, allowing one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in seven-plus stellar innings in a 4-1 victory.
Giolito went 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA in 12 starts in 2020. He finished second in the AL with 97 strikeouts and was fifth in innings pitched (72?). He’ll have a familiar face offering tips in 2021 after the Sox named Ethan Katz their pitching coach last week
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. Katz was Giolito’s pitching coach in high school.“I’m just excited for us to get working now,” Giolito said last week.
Dallas Keuchel
Dallas Keuchel, who will turn 33 on Jan. 1, was the key addition to the rotation last offseason when he signed a three-year, $55.5 million deal.
He excelled in his first season with the Sox, finishing second in the AL with a 1.99 ERA and tied for fourth with six victories. In addition to placing fifth in Cy Young voting, he received a vote for AL MVP.
Keuchel made a big impact off the field as well. His team meeting after an Aug. 10 loss to the Detroit Tigers served as a spark, with the Sox winning 14 of their next 18.
Lance Lynn
Lance Lynn, 33, has pitched at least 200 innings in a season three times, including a career-high 208? in 2019. He led the AL in innings pitched (84) in 2020 while going 6-3 with a 3.32 ERA. Lynn was tied for fourth in the AL in victories and placed fifth in strikeouts (89).
He has experience pitching for new Sox manager Tony La Russa. Lynn was a rookie in 2011, La Russa’s final season managing the St. Louis Cardinals, and went 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA in 18 outings (two starts).
Lynn made 10 relief appearances that postseason and went 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings. He was the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the World Series against the Rangers, allowing one run in 2? relief innings. Now he reunites with La Russa, looking for another successful postseason run.
Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease, who turns 25 on Dec. 28, had a nice August, going 4-1 with a 2.14 ERA in six starts.
September was a different story: Cease went 1-2 with a 5.64 ERA in five starts.
Overall, Cease had a 5-4 record with a 4.01 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 12 starts in his second season in the big leagues.
The right-hander has great stuff, but command issues continue to be the biggest area Cease needs to focus on. He led the AL with 34 walks in 58? innings.
“We’ve all seen the flashes of what his stuff is capable of doing when it’s all aligned,” Rick Hahn said Tuesday. “And quite frankly, I’m excited to see him after a period of time working with Ethan Katz and seeing where that leads us. Kid’s got a great arsenal.”
Michael Kopech
Michael Kopech, 24, last pitched in a regular-season game in 2018. He missed 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery and elected to opt out for personal reasons in 2020.
Kopech is one of the top prospects in the organization (No. 2) and in the game (No. 18). He showed why in his one inning during spring training, striking out one in a scoreless inning. Six of his 11 pitches were clocked at 100 or 101 mph.
“Overcoming the two years of not facing big-league hitters is something we’re going to have to work through together,” Rick Hahn said in October. “And managing the workload and our own expectations.”
Reynaldo Lopez could be among the options to aid as the Sox juggle Kopech’s workload.
Hahn said “never say never” when he was asked Tuesday about adding more pitching.
“We’re still going to look at ways to improve the pitching,” Hahn said. “We’re going to have this conversation at the start of spring or June 1, and I’m still going to say we don’t have enough pitching, even if we make more pitching acquisitions between now and that next conversation about it.
“We feel real good about the pitching staff, where it sits right now, like the young bullpen arms we have. But we’re going to keep at it in the market and see if something presents itself either via trade or free agency over the next few weeks.”