A couple of days before the Twins signed Lance Lynn, the online betting site Bovada offered a few prop bets on which teams the top remaining free-agent pitchers were most likely to wind up signing with this season.
The Twins were given the best odds of signing both Lynn and Alex Cobb.
With Lynn, who missed all of 2016 after having Tommy John surgery, the Twins were listed as 9-5 favorites. The Phillies were next at 10-3.
Lynn's peripheral numbers were down last season from where they were pre-surgery, but he still posted a 3.43 ERA in 33 starts for the Cardinals and could be even better in Year 2 post-surgery.
Those odds guaranteed nothing, of course, but they were at least reflective of how Bovada quantifies the various reports out there. Maybe they even knew something the rest of us didn't?
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
