CHICAGO -- Hours before he took the mound against the crosstown Cubs on Wednesday night, Lance Lynn sat in one corner of the Guaranteed Rate Field clubhouse pouring over scouting reports about the hitters he was about to face -- just as he had before his 69 previous starts with the White Sox. Nothing seemed different for the 36-year-old right-hander, even as he prepared for what would undoubtedly be the last time he pitched for the South Side club.
But the team's inevitable breakup was the talk of the room around Lynn, a free-agent-to-be on a club clearly set on offloading veterans ahead of Tuesday's MLB trade deadline.