Cardinals turn to the past for new starting pitcher and an authoritative clubhouse voice

The Cardinals entered the winter in desperate need of innings to fill out a rotation that through attrition is at only a fragment of last season’s capacity, and quietly, with a need to return respected voices of a certain tenor to their clubhouse.

To accomplish both, the club turned to a pair of familiar faces.

Right-hander Lance Lynn, a first round pick of St. Louis in 2008, agreed to a one-year, $11 million contract to return for the 2024 season, according to multiple reports. That contract includes a team option for 2025 with a $1 million buyout which could expand its total value beyond $20 million, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

In addition, the team announced Monday that former infielder Daniel Descalso, just seven months and one draft class older than Lynn, would be joining the team’s on-field staff as the bench coach, replacing Joe McEwing.

McEwing will spend the 2024 season as a special assistant to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak. Descalso will be the third person in three seasons to act as Cardinals bench coach after having previously started for them at second base, following Skip Schumaker and his predecessor.

Lynn, who turns 37 in May, spent the first six years of his career with the Cardinals and was a key member of the 2011 World Series champions. Despite his struggles with the White Sox and Dodgers in 2023 — he led the Majors in home runs allowed with 44 — he still provided 183 2/3 innings. He represents still a workhorse who can chew up valuable innings, and the risk of those home runs should be diminished in spacious Busch Stadium.

Crucially, Lynn is well known as a veteran leader who is unrestrained and undiminished in his capacity for providing guidance and (where necessary) correction among his fellow players. Those characteristics were occasionally lacking in 2023, owing in part to different leadership styles possessed by players like Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt and Willson Contreras’s own work to acclimate himself to a drastically different environment.

His departure from the Cardinals after the 2017 season was in part the result of the team becoming weary of right-handed starters of large physical stature as they lived through the lean years of Adam Wainwright’s largest contract. Indeed, Wainwright has been known to joke that both Lynn and free agent starter Michael Wacha may have had significant grievances with him over the way that his own physical struggles impacted their careers.

Adding Lynn to the rotation helps fill the innings gap that has been created in recent months since the team waved the white flag in 2023. Despite his advanced age, Lynn is reliable in his ability to provide innings, which can have important benefits in preserving the pitching staff over the season’s extended stretches.

Lynn also averaged 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings, despite his struggles. That rate bests any by a pitcher who started for the Cardinals last season, save for Zack Thompson who posted a 9.8 while dividing his time between the rotation and the bullpen.

Both Descalso and Lynn unquestionably represent an attempt by the Cardinals to reclaim some of the institutional knowledge that has been lost with recent high-profile retirements. Wainwright’s departure left the club without a player on the roster who had won even a single National League Championship Series game in St. Louis. Lynn, who pitched in two World Series for the Cardinals, fills that gap. Descalso played in those same two series.

McEwing’s addition to the staff in January came in the wake of Matt Holliday first accepting and then resigning the job, and the Cardinals at the time described relief in finding such a qualified candidate despite a lead time of barely weeks ahead of spring training. Without a previously existing relationship with Marmol, it was clear that the two lacked some of the intuitive trust which Marmol shared with Schumaker.

Descalso, who does have that history, spent last season working in the front office of the National League Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

In the press release announcing Descalso’s hiring, the Cardinals said that they, “still intend[s] to make further additions to its Major League coaching staff for 2024.”

After a year away in retirement, the Cardinals and Yadier Molina have spent a significant part of the winter discussing a potential coaching or advisory role and whether or how it may fit next season. Those discussions are ongoing and should reach a conclusion in the coming weeks.