It’s a little early for the “best shape of my life” stories. But it’s late in Lance Lynn’s career.

Frustrated by knee issues that limited him last season to 117 1/3 innings, his lowest total for a full campaign excluding the 2016 season he missed while recovering After Tommy John surgery, Lynn adjusted her workout routine. In a phone interview Wednesday, the 6-foot-5 right-hander said he lost 20 pounds, going from 280 to 260.

Lynn, 37, became a free agent when the St. Louis Cardinals declined his $12 million club option. Since his debut in 2011, he ranks sixth in the majors with 2,006 1/3 innings pitched, behind only Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner. And like most players, Lynn wants to extend his career as long as possible.

“The older you get, the more new things you learn,” Lynn said. “When you look at my knees and my lower body, with my age and the way my body is built, I was going to have to lose some weight. This was priority number one, from the start.

Lynn was injured twice last season due to inflammation in her right knee, making only two starts after July 30. He said the injury was “something unexpected, out of nowhere.” While he was injured, he sought advice from a number of former teammates who had launched their careers in their late 30s and early 40s. The group included John Lackey, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and CC Sabathia.

“I kind of came to the conclusion that I wasn’t done,” Lynn said. “And if I’m not done, I need to change some things, just to make sure I can do the things I need to do and give myself the best chance of staying healthy for as long as I want to do it. .

“I think I reorganized every five or six years. Here’s another rework to perhaps prepare me for my final act here, in my late 30s.

By losing weight, Lynn created a greater range of motion in her hips and took pressure off her knee. But he’s not just looking to lose weight. Lynn emphasized the importance of finding good balance, maintaining strength and improving flexibility.

Lynn reacts during a mid-September game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, one of two starts he made after July during the 2024 season. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)

His current weight, he said, is “where I need to be.” If he loses extra pounds during the normal course of training, so be it. But Lynn isn’t going to force things and risk losing the muscle mass needed to make 30 starts and throw 200 innings. Yes, those are still his goals. The last time he reached both totals was in 2019.

His right knee was not a new problem. The first time he sent it to the IL was at the end of the 2021 season when he was a member of the IL. Chicago Sox. In 2022, Lynn tore a knee tendon during spring training and required surgery that sidelined him for more than two months early in the season. He now thinks he was playing catch-up trying to get ready for the season and came back from surgery too quickly.

In 2023, he had an abbreviated offseason as he prepared to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, and ended up allowing a major league-high 44 home runs with the White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. Last season, he was so preoccupied with throwing better, he said, that he neglected his knee.

When he was healthy, Lynn said he had the best feel for his pitch mix in a long time. He ended up making 23 starts, finishing with a 3.84 ERA. Remember a miserable outing on July 6 against the Nationals in which he allowed 10 earned runs, and that number drops to 3.14.

He has pitched for six teams over the past seven seasons. But for his career, his adjusted ERA is 11 percent higher than the league average. And now that he’s a free agent, teams want him for the same reason the Cardinals wanted him last winter. To soak up the sleeves. To set an example for the rest of the staff.

“To be honest, I was surprised by how many teams called,” Lynn said. “There have been a wide variety of teams looking to compete and teams looking to have a veteran presence.

“I have no problem helping young kids and doing the things that I need to do, to pass things on in this game. I enjoy that. But I also want the chance to play for a World Series. I I’m going to have to weigh all the options and see what’s not only best for me, but also how things work with my family.

Lynn is married with four children aged two to 12. He said a time will come when he wants to put his family first. He understands that he is in the twilight of his career. But if this is indeed his last act, he wants to stay on stage as long as possible.

“I really enjoy competing, as people can see when I throw. I love taking care of it and I feel like I still can,” Lynn said. “For me, that’s the No. 1 thing. If I still love competing and I know I can pull away, I’ll give it my all.

“Your goal is always to play as long as possible. You always put a number on it: “Man, it would be awesome to play until I’m 40.” If I use this number, I still have three years. But I don’t want to put a number on it. I’ll come out when I’m ready to come out. Right now, I’m not ready to go out.

(Top photo of Lance Lynn in July 2024: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)