New White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn eager for reunion with Tony La Russa

It has been almost 10 years since Lance Lynn played for Tony La Russa. It was Lynn’s first season in the major leagues and La Russa’s last as a manager.

The experience was grand. Their Cardinals won the World Series in seven games over the Rangers, and Lynn, pitching in relief back then, was called on to pitch five times.

On Tuesday, the White Sox acquired Lynn in a trade with the Rangers to bolster their starting rotation, and he will pitch for La Russa, hired at age 76 to come out of retirement, once again.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Lynn said Tuesday. “I think he is, too, or he wouldn’t jump out of retirement after nine years. He’s ready to win and he’s been itching to do this. And hopefully we can all get together here and make a good run at things.”

As Sox players try to process what it will be like playing for a manager who hasn’t been on the field or in a clubhouse since well before most of them were major leaguers, Lynn would have them know this about La Russa:

“Tony’s all business and all about winning,” Lynn said. “That’s the only thing that matters. I remember when I was a rookie, I’d say ‘How’s your day going?’ [And he’d say] ‘I’ll let you know after the game.’

“It all revolves around winning the game and doing everything you can to compete the best you can and succeed and win. And that’s what he’s all about.”

Sox players were as stunned as everyone else when La Russa was hired, but as they’ve reached out to players who played for

La Russa, they’re getting favorable feedback.

“I find that your manager is your manager and you respect him because he’s your manager,” Lynn said, “but you also have to have a little bit of the back-and-forth. And Tony has that ability to do that. As a young kid I had that with him, and we’ve been able to keep our relationship up over the years. It’s kind of put on him that he’s a, ‘Hey, this is how it’s going to be’ manager, and that’s not who he is. He has the ability to be sociable and be personal. That’s why he’s been successful.”

Lynn, 33, would pitch five more seasons with the Cardinals, building a resumé as one of the most successful, workhorse starters in the game. The 6-5, 250-pounder from Brentwood, Tennessee, has thrown 100-plus pitches in a major-league best 44 times since 2019 and ranks second in starts of six innings plus (36) and seven innings plus (21).

The only thing he likes more than hunting deer is going deep into a game.

“We wanted someone who could not only fit into the front end of our rotation but was going to be ideally reliable every fifth day to give us some depth and give us some length in his outings,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “Those who have followed him know how dominant Lance has been over the last couple of seasons.”

After missing the 2016 season because of Tommy John surgery, Lynn made 33 starts and posted a 3.53 ERA in his last season with the Cardinals in 2017. He posted a 4.77 ERA between the Twins and Yankees in 2018, the only ERA higher than 4 in his career, and with the Rangers has been one of the top 10 starters in baseball over the last two seasons. Owner of a career 104-71 record and 3.57 ERA, he adjusted his approach in recent years, throwing fewer sinkers and more elevated four-seam fastballs and a cutter to produce more swings and misses.

Lynn posted a 3.32 ERA in a league-best 13 starts and 84 innings in 2020.

How La Russa lines up his top three starters of Lucas Giolito, Lynn and Dallas Keuchel, all of whom finished in the top seven in AL Cy Young voting last season, will be as interesting to watch as the competition between them.

“We’re going to have our friendly rivalry as teammates to have fun and to push each other through the year,” Lynn said. “I’m looking forward to that and I know those guys are, too. They’ve already reached out to me and they’re ready to rock and so am I.

“I’m looking forward to getting to spring training and getting after this thing.”

And with La Russa at the helm.

“Even though Tony’s been away from the game for nine years, he eats, sleeps and breathes baseball,” Lynn said. “He always has, and that’s what made him the Hall-of-Fame manager that he is.

“When you look at what he’s accomplished in the game and he he’s not been out of the game — a few things have changed over the past nine years, but he was kind of ahead of his time when he was doing his thing.

“I remember when I was a rookie, when we were in the playoffs, he used the bullpen more innings than the starters. And that was just because we had to. He was doing it because he could feel the game, he knew what guys were capable of, and he put guys in the best situations. So if you’re able to do that with the stuff that we have at our disposal now that wasn’t there 10 years ago, I think you’re looking at the ability to have a lot of success. And I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.”