The Athletic: "The Cubs are keeping Gibson and Lynn on their radar..."

[Matthew Lenz]

Building off a previous report, Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletics are reporting that the Chicago Cubs are keeping pitchers Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn on their radars despite their rotation being relatively healthy at the moment.

They also mention that the Cubs kicked the tires on Andrew Heaney before he agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and they go on to suggest that a move could be made following their trip to Japan.

While it's presumed the two veterans are staying in shape in hopes of signing with a big-league club, it's not a guarantee that either would be game ready by Opening Day. This is prompting "some clubs" (the Cubs weren't specifically named) to ask pitchers to sign a 45-day-advance-consent form, which allows a team to terminate the contract in the first 45 days for any reason except injury and only pay them for the time spent on the roster.

While the Cubs rotation is currently looking solid, you can never have enough pitching. Should they add one of Gibson or Lynn for added depth in a position group that is the most valuable asset in the sport? Join the conversation in the comments!

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[UMFan83]

And now Boob is saying the Cubs are in active negotiations with Lance Lynn...

 

 

Edited March 13, 2025 by UMFan83

[Bertz]

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

And now Boob is saying the Cubs are in active negotiations with Lance Lynn...

 

 

On the one hand, Lynn is probably better than Rea.

On the other hand, whose roster spot is he taking?  There is already a crunch to get Keller on the roster.  Is someone hurt?

On yet another hand, the Athletic did specifically mention that such a signing would likely not be with opening day in mind.

[mul21]

Just now, Bertz said:

On the one hand, Lynn is probably better than Rea.

On the other hand, whose roster spot is he taking?  There is already a crunch to get Keller on the roster.  Is someone hurt?

On yet another hand, the Athletic did specifically mention that such a signing would likely not be with opening day in mind.

Is he though?  Unless the fly ball suppression continues this year, a fly ball pitcher like him is a disaster waiting to happen in Wrigley.

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Is he though?  Unless the fly ball suppression continues this year, a fly ball pitcher like him is a disaster waiting to happen in Wrigley.

Rea's not way different in that regard.  Lynn had a 36% groundball rate last year, Rea had a 39%.

Also Wrigley's been trending more and more pitcher friendly.  Last year was anomalously bad, but Fangraphs says that Wrigley hasn't been an above average homerun park since 2015.  The video boards probably have a heavy hand in this, and they're not going anywhere.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Gross. Awful. Disgusting.

A serious team should not be looking at Lance Lynn as a rotation depth option.

[Bertz]

7 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Gross. Awful. Disgusting.

A serious team should not be looking at Lance Lynn as a rotation depth option.

He had a 3.84 ERA last year and the year before that started a playoff game for the Dodgers.

[Derwood]

7-4 and managed a 0.3 bWAR

[Stratos]

33 minutes ago, Bertz said:

On the one hand, Lynn is probably better than Rea.

On the other hand, whose roster spot is he taking?  There is already a crunch to get Keller on the roster.  Is someone hurt?

On yet another hand, the Athletic did specifically mention that such a signing would likely not be with opening day in mind.

Yeah he'd need to build up a bit in game action i imagine. . Maybe mid-April would be realistic.

I don't think anyone is losing sleep on Brad Keller.  There's room for other guys in Iowa too I'd bet.

Injuries will inevitably happen at some point and probably by the time he's ready and make things moot.

[Jason Ross]

I don't really like Colin Rea, but I like Rea a bit more than Lynn currently. Lynn looks entirely toasted. The ERA was fine, but his Savant page is...real rough. He was not above the 50% mark on a single skill last year and he feels ripe for some real regression , It was a slight step up from the year prior, but I can't imagine a situation where signing him does anything for me. At best it's a lateral move, but then you're sticking with Rea in the BP which, I just think the Cubs have better options. And Lynn, at 37, probably isn't keen on "go hang out in Iowa" specially when Brown and Wicks are more likely callups. Ultimately, a one year deal isn't going to kill the Cubs, especially with the room they have under the LT, I just can't see a positive in this if it happens on an MLB deal. That isn't to say it's going to tank the Cubs, but it feels like an unforced error that probably doesn't work out positively, though it could be a quick reaction to an injury in which I'm more lenient on this. So in the end, it's either a somewhat odd "luxury" signing or an injury related signing - neither of which excite me.

[Post Count Padder]

Lynn has been underrated for awhile. I didn't realize that he's been average to good most of his career aside from 2023. On a one-year deal, I'm fine with it. That said, I like it less after adding Rea. Is someone else hurt? Because now what?

Imanaga, Steele, Taillon, Boyd, Lynn...... Rea?

Pen: Pressly, Brasier, Hodge, Miller, Thielbar, Morgan......Pearson? Merryweather? Seems like both Keller might make the team and Keegan will be DFA'd but now there's a bigger roster crunch. 

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

Lynn has been underrated for awhile. I didn't realize that he's been average to good most of his career aside from 2023. On a one-year deal, I'm fine with it. That said, I like it less after adding Rea. Is someone else hurt? Because now what?

Imanaga, Steele, Taillon, Boyd, Lynn...... Rea?

Pen: Pressly, Brasier, Hodge, Miller, Thielbar, Morgan......Pearson? Merryweather? Seems like both Keller might make the team and Keegan will be DFA'd but now there's a bigger roster crunch. 

Former Lance Lynn was underrated. I think 37 year old Lance Lynn is pretty accurately rated, however. He had career low K rates, average walk rates, and his HR/FB% seems a bit under what it should have been (he was at 19% the season before, down to 11% last year despite his barrel% going up to his career high). His xERA was 4.91 and his xFIP was 4.39. His wOBA was .319 but his xwOBA was .340. 

If you told me he could band aid a rotational spot for a portion of the season and wasn't a complete disaster I don't think that's a crazy concept. But I also don't think he's underrated any longer, either. 

[squally1313]

No point in freaking out about this. He's not taking anyone spots in the top 4 and is basically the same pitcher as Rea (you can still have problems with this one, especially in hindsight). Lynn will get a ramp up period and if no one breaks between now and 4-6 weeks from now we cut him a check for hanging out in Arizona/Iowa for a month and send him on his way. Better proactive than reactive, especially when you screw up and leave yourself with $30m to spend.  

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I don't really like Colin Rea, but I like Rea a bit more than Lynn currently. Lynn looks entirely toasted. The ERA was fine, but his Savant page is...real rough. He was not above the 50% mark on a single skill last year and he feels ripe for some real regression , It was a slight step up from the year prior, but I can't imagine a situation where signing him does anything for me. At best it's a lateral move, but then you're sticking with Rea in the BP which, I just think the Cubs have better options. And Lynn, at 37, probably isn't keen on "go hang out in Iowa" specially when Brown and Wicks are more likely callups. Ultimately, a one year deal isn't going to kill the Cubs, especially with the room they have under the LT, I just can't see a positive in this if it happens on an MLB deal. That isn't to say it's going to tank the Cubs, but it feels like an unforced error that probably doesn't work out positively, though it could be a quick reaction to an injury in which I'm more lenient on this. So in the end, it's either a somewhat odd "luxury" signing or an injury related signing - neither of which excite me.

Rea and Lynn are both below average mlb starters IMO.  Ok for depth i guess

[soccer10k]

22 hours ago, Bertz said:

He had a 3.84 ERA last year and the year before that started a playoff game for the Dodgers.

To be fair on the Dodgers part, he only started a playoff game because the Dodgers had multiple starters get hurt and Urias got arrested for domestic violence.

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, soccer10k said:

To be fair on the Dodgers part, he only started a playoff game because the Dodgers had multiple starters get hurt and Urias got arrested for domestic violence.

Oh certainly.  He's not good, but the idea that he's so bad a "serious" team would flatly refuse to employ him is pretty divorced from reality.  He's a pretty generic innings eating 5th starter.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Nm. 

Edited March 17, 2025 by NorthsideAvenger

[CubinNY]

I think Lynn retired. 

[Bull]

3 hours ago, CubinNY said:

I think Lynn retired. 

Still on the radar. Cubs have scouts at the retirement homes these days.