The St. Louis Cardinals discussed a long-term deal with Lance Lynn that would have bought out some of his years of free agency, but eventually settled on a three-year, $22 million contract.
The three-year pact covers his remaining arbitration years. Lynn will hit the free agent market in 2017.
"Obviously, when you start talking about free-agent years or option years, there's a cost to that," John Mozeliak said. "It certainly was something that was on the table and discussed. But ultimately the comfort of something getting done, even though it may feel short, it gives us some cost certainty."
"That was something that was our main focus from the get-go, was to not give away one or two free-agent years," Lynn added. "That's what we stuck to."