Dodgers expected to decline Lance Lynn’s $18M club option

The Dodgers plan to decline the club option in veteran right-hander Lance Lynn’s contract.

Acquired from the Chicago White Sox shortly before the trade deadline, the Dodgers will pay Lynn a $1 million buyout rather than exercise an option that would bring him back at an $18 million salary in 2024, a source confirmed. The 36-year-old Lynn will become a free agent after having played for six teams in a 12-year career.

Lynn finished the 2023 season with a 13-11 record and a career-high 5.73 ERA. He was better for the Dodgers after being acquired from the White Sox along with reliever Joe Kelly in exchange for outfielder Trayce Thompson and minor-leaguers Nick Nastrini and Jordan Leasure. After going 6-9 with a 6.47 ERA in 21 starts with the White Sox, Lynn was 7-2 with a 4.36 ERA in 11 starts with the Dodgers.

The common theme at both stops, though, was home runs. Lynn allowed an MLB-high 44 home runs in 2023 – 28 with the White Sox and 16 with the Dodgers. Only four pitchers have given up more home runs in a season (Bert Blyleven did it twice), none since Bronson Arroyo gave up 46 with the Cincinnati Reds in 2011.

That trend continued in the postseason when Lynn became the first pitcher in MLB history to give up four home runs in one inning of a postseason game.

A two-time All-Star (with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012 and the White Sox in 2021), Lynn has a career record of 136-95 with a 3.74 ERA.