Who is the Real Lance Lynn?

The Cardinals lost the last game against the Nationals in their 4 game series that concluded this afternoon for many reasons.  The number one reason, to be fair was that Stephen Strasburg is an amazingly talented pitcher who can look absolutely unhittable when he is right.  Then there was the Cardinal’s ability to come back offensively against the National’s bullpen, although not quite far enough back.  Finally, there was the ineffectiveness of Lance Lynn, and with these factors all combined, the Cardinals have their newest recipe for a loss.

Lance Lynn has filled a lot of roles for the Cardinals over the past few seasons.  He has gone from supplemental round draft pick with the potential to move quickly through the organization’s minor league system, but not the type of high end potential that would see him through to an impact player in the Major Leagues.  Then as he moved up, Lynn found a fastball that he could throw into the mid 90’s and worked himself into an intriguing starting option at Triple A.  Then last season, he became the type of high leverage late inning reliever who could be dominant enough to pitch in important situations during a World Series run.  Finally, this season, he found himself as an All Star caliber starting pitcher before he struggled to the point of his current demotion to the bullpen.

It has been quite the quick rise for Lynn, but should we look at this season as evidence of a young pitcher running into issues as his arm throws more innings than ever before?  Or should we look at the beginning of the season as something of an aberration where Lyn is more of a streaky player who during the right times can be dominant, but should never really be counted on as a top of the rotation starter or even a back of the bullpen reliever.  John Mozeliak has already hedged his bets with Lynn somewhat by dealing for middle reliever Edward Mujica and giving an extension to Jake Westbrook for next year and possibly the year after that as well. 

The extension of Jake Westbrook in particular tells us that Mozeliak’s plans for the future of the Cardinals franchise revolves around being unsure of either or both Chris Carpenter and Lynn for at least the next season or two.  If Lance Lynn could be the pitcher that the Cardinals had at the beginning of this season or at the end of last season, he could be a valuable piece moving forward, filling either the role of a Jaime Garcia as a talented young starter or even a Kyle McClellan who for years was a dependable arm out of the bullpen who could be versatile enough to work multiple innings or even late inning situations. 

It is difficult to determine what role which Lynn would be best suited for.  With the possible additions of guys like Shelby Miller and possibly even Michael Wacha in the next two seasons in the starting rotation, it could be possible that Lynn could be a part of a Lynn to Boggs to Motte 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th inning men which could be extremely valuable in the way that Lidge, Dotel, and Wagner were for the Astros when they had some of those amazingly dominant teams in the National League Central (before they sunk so deep into a hole that we may be looking at the next 20 year’s version of the Pittsburgh Pirates.)  I feel like this could be the role of the future of Lynn, similar to how it was for McClellan before him.  He can be the versatile right hander out of the bullpen who can also step in and be extended when needed.  The simple truth is that Lynn will determine his role from now forward with the Cardinals, and we are all holding our breath in hopes that it will be an effective role.