St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn (31) reacts after inning ending double play against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. / Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Veteran starting pitcher Lance Lynn announced his retirement today on his and his wife’s podcast, Dymin in the Rough. In his own words,

“Baseball season is upon us — and I’m right here on the couch,” Lynn said. “And that is where I’m going to stay. So there’s the update: I’m officially retiring from baseball right here, right now.”

Lynn spent his final season with the Cardinals, pitching to a 3.84 ERA and 4.40 SIERA over 117 1/3 innings. The team went 15-8 in his starts. It was the prime way for Lynn to go out, as he finished his career with the same team he started with.

The Cardinals selected Lynn in the first round of the 2008 draft, and he made his big league debut just under three years later. He would quickly become a key contributor in the Cardinals’ bullpen, helping the team to a World Series championship in the fall.

With the retirement of Lynn, Matt Carpenter, who is currently a free agent, is the last active player from that 2011 World Series Championship team.

After leaving the Cardinals this past offseason, there was still interest in the 37-year old veteran. Most notably, the Chicago Cubs were known to have interest, he says, “The money didn’t work out.”

To that point, he might have also had a chance to prolong his career by transitioning into a reliever – an option he seemed at least somewhat interested in when he discussed the topic with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in January. Yet, his comments suggest he is quite happy with the way he ultimately went out.

Over his 13-year career, Lynn compiled a career record of 143-99 with a 3.74 ERA during stints with the Cardinals, Twins, Yankees, Rangers, White Sox and Dodgers.

Arguably, aside from Lynn’s World Series Championship season, his best season came in 2019 with the Texas Rangers. He went 16-11 with a 3.67 ERA and 246 strikeouts in 208 1/3 innings, adding up to 7.7 bWAR and a fifth-place finish in AL Cy Young voting.