GLENDALE, Ariz. — Lance Lynn was the likely candidate to be the White Sox Day starter, but Lynn’s opening start will have to wait about two months, the team learned Sunday.
Lynn has a minor tear in his right knee and will have a 30-minute procedure done Tuesday that will keep him off a mound for about four weeks. He’ll need another four weeks to build up strength after that, the significant blow coming a week before the season opener in Detroit to a team with World Series aspirations.
Manager Tony La Russa will almost certainly name Lucas Giolito on Monday to take the ball against the Tigers Friday instead. He’ll also provide an idea of how a rotation, already with questions marks because of Michael Kopech’s slower ramp up this spring, will shake out.
Reynaldo Lopez and Vince Velasquez will be asked to step up in a combination of starting and long relief roles to shoulder some of the burden.
“Obviously it’s unfortunate that we have to spend the first several weeks without Lance,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “It’s not anything that will likely be unique to us in terms of the unique season we have ahead of us and it’s an opportunity for some of the other arms we’ll be carrying with the expanded roster to filling some of that void.
“It’s part of the game. We have a very deep and talented roster.”
La Russa has been saying for a while that he has two Opening Day options in Lynn and Lucas Giolito but also said he was leaning to one of them. Most indications pointed to Lynn.
Lynn was moving around the clubhouse in shorts with no ice or wrap on the knee, and was smiling while talking with teammates Sunday morning. The Sox said they were waiting on more tests before issuing an update on his condition.
“Fingers crossed,” La Russa said.
As it turns out, the MRI news was not good.
Hopping on his left leg, limping toward the dugout and bending forward with both hands on his thighs, Lynn exited his final Cactus League start Saturday night against the Diamondbacks with 3 1⁄3 innings and 79 pitches under his belt after an uneven start in which he was charged with seven runs.
“I think he just landed wrong,” La Russa said. “Or it seemed like it.”
Lynn landed on the injured list last August with inflammation in the same knee and did several weeks of rehabilitation on it after the season, general manager Rick Hahn said.
With a shortened spring leading to the season, and with Kopech having only one two-inning start under his belt, the Sox — like all 30 teams — already faced concerns about starting pitching manpower with innings limits. Lynn’s injury only complicates matters and heightens the importance of Velasquez and Lopez as “backup” starters behind the Giolito, Dylan Cease, Kopech and Dallas Keuchel.
“All morning long we’ve been talking about ‘what ifs’ and how we would cover and I just think that the priority is going to be the series you are playing,” La Russa said “And an opportunity to win the game. It might rain tomorrow, snow the next day. So, we are looking at, we are going to ‘what if’ but the priority will be the first three games against Detroit.”
Lynn was expected to talk to reporters Monday.
