Cubs Could Kick Tires on Aging Free Agent Pitchers Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn

The news of Gerrit Cole‘s Tommy John surgery sent ripples through Major League Baseball that could end up reaching the shores of Lake Michigan. But probably not until after the Cubs have crossed the Pacific Ocean — we haven’t changed it to the Ocean of America yet, right? — twice, and only then if something has gone wrong with their own pitching depth. Cole is just the biggest name among a rash of recent arm injuries over the last week or so that have several teams exploring options for help.

The Yankees had previously announced that reigning Rookie of the Year winner Luis Gil will miss at least six weeks due to a lat strain. The Orioles lost both Grayson Rodriguez (elbow inflammation) and Andrew Kittredge (arthroscopic knee surgery) for at least a few weeks. Dodgers righty Michael Grove will miss the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery, and the Mariners will be without George Kirby for a while as he deals with shoulder inflammation.

As Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney reported for the Athletic, the Cubs are also among the teams keeping tabs on a pair of 37-year-old veterans who are currently without teams. Oddly enough, they’re both central Indiana natives. Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn pitched against one another in high school, with the former winning Mr. Baseball while leading his Brownsburg Bulldogs to an undefeated (35-0) state title in 2005. That team also featured future Nationals closer Drew Storen and came just a few years before Tucker Barnhart won Mr. Baseball for Brownsburg.

Ed. note: The video of that title game plays on a loop in the trophy case at Brownsburg HS, where my daughter is the senior class president and my son is a sophomore who will be trying out for the baseball team next week. After seeing football and wrestling win state already this year, we’re hoping for better results on the diamond than they’ve gotten lately. Should get a good squad with eight college commits on the roster.

For what it’s worth, Lynn was also a very prodigious hitter in high school, mashing 14 homers to go with a 16-0 record and 0.71 ERA as a senior. He even homered against Obvious Shirts founder and owner Joe Johnson in a travel game at Brownsburg, a shot Johnson says is the deepest homer he ever saw.

It seems unlikely at this point that the Cubs would find themselves in such dire straights that they’d need to sign an aging pitcher whose availability is very much up in the air. Even with Lynn and Gibson both throwing regularly, there’s a big difference between even competitive live bullpens and real games. Remember when Craig Kimbrel struggled to adapt to facing batters who weren’t plywood cutouts in his barn?

While I still believe Javier Assad is best served as a long reliever, I much prefer him as a depth option over either of the two oldsters being discussed. That said, Assad just set a career high of 147 last year where Gibson has thrown at least 147.1 innings in each of his 10 full seasons. Lynn has battled nagging knee issues for a while but he actually pitched pretty well for the Cardinals last season and says he’s dropped 20 pounds to get down to 260 in hopes of improving his health.

Neither of these guys should expect to get more than $5 million on a one-year deal that may come with a 45-day advance-consent form to protect the team, so money isn’t really an issue. Then again, the higher injury rate during spring training and the early part of the season could put free agents in a more advantageous position. I guess we’ll just have to see where the Cubs are following their trip to Japan, but it doesn’t feel like their desperation will match that of other teams when it comes to giving either of these dudes one more shot.

Between Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Ben Brown, they’ve got enough arms to lengthen the rotation for a while, even if someone else goes down. And with Cade Horton chucking it in the upper 90s again, his promotion is really just a matter of staying healthy.

“At some point in the season, we gotta call Cade Horton up,” Craig Counsell told reporters over the weekend. “That’s kinda how you want it to feel.”