Lance Lynn to disabled list with 'forearm strain'; Tyler Lyons promoted to rotation

The St. Louis Cardinals delivered bad news regarding Lance Lynn's barking forearm on Friday, but not the worst news. The Cards announced on Friday that the club will place Lynn on the 15-day disabled list with a "forearm strain." Triple-A lefty Tyler Lyons will be promoted to the rotation in Lynn's stead.

While a "forearm strain" can often be a precursor to a more severe diagnosis such as ulnar collateral ligament replacement via Tommy John surgery, the Cardinals appear optimistic that such a season-ending procedure will not be necessary for Lynn.

Lynn not suffering structural issue, Mo says likely to only miss the 15 days #Cardinals #STLCards

— Brian Stull (@StullySTL) June 12, 2015

Mozeliak says Lynn probably could have pitched through forearm injury, but club wants to be cautious. Lynn expected to return in two weeks.

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) June 12, 2015

St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Goold broke the news on Wednesday that the Cardinals were sending Lynn home for testing:

The righthander threw five innings Sunday night at Dodger Stadium and left the game after his 98th pitch, partially because of the soreness in his forearm. Lynn described the sensation as cramping, and he said it’s similar to sensations that he’s pitched through before. He said the cramping in his forearm was something he had experienced as far back as college, and it hasn’t inhibited his ability to recover and make his next start.

"I have it more times than not," he said Monday.

The Cardinals had Lynn get treatment for the cramping Monday at Coors Field, and they elected to have him travel for a deeper examination of the forearm’s structure. The Cardinals often will ask their medical team to explore the possibility of weaknesses elsewhere in the body to explain an injury and then look to address those weaknesses. Similar protocols revealed Michael Wacha’s stress reaction in his right shoulder last season after he alerted them to symptoms in his throwing arm.

Entering the 2015 season, the Cardinals had two pitchers in their starting rotation who had tallied over 200 innings in either of the last two seasons: Adam Wainwright and Lynn, who each surpassed 200 innings in both 2013 and 2014. St. Louis lost Wainwright for the year to an Achilles tendon injury on April 25 after he had thrown just 25 innings on the season. Lynn has notched 73 1/3 so far in 2015. A 15-day DL stint, if that's all the time Lynn misses, might preclude the righty from reaching the 200-IP benchmark in 2015.

Manager Mike Matheny is apparently taking the news in stride:

Matheny on Lynn headed to DL: just part of baseball season... Gives someone else a chance #STLCards

— Benjamin Boyd (@benjaminhboyd) June 12, 2015

As mentioned above, the pitcher getting that opportunity is Lyons. The port-sider has pitched very well for Memphis so far this young season. And while his run prevention (the point of pitching and fielding) has been bad, his peripherals have been quite good. So there's reason to believe that Lyons might pitch better than his ERA over three major-league starts this year indicates. Count me among the dwindling camp of Lyons believers.

Tyler Lyons 2015 Stats

Here's the updated 40-man roster matrix after Lynn's placement on the DL and Lyons's promotion.