Ed Lynch
From Sports Library
Edward Francis (Ed) Lynch (born February 25, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1980 through 1987, Lynch played for the New York Mets (1980-1986 [start]) and Chicago Cubs (1986[end]-1987). He batted and threw right handed.
In an eight-season career, Lynch posted a 47-54 record with 396 strikeouts and a 4.00 ERA in 940.1 innings pitched.
He was named general manager of the Cubs following the 1994 season by new team president Andy MacPhail. Lynch hired former San Diego Padres manager Jim Riggleman to be his field manager. During Lynch's first year as Cubs' general manager, the team was good enough to stay in the race until the final weekend of the season.
After two sub-.500 seasons (including 1997, where the Cubs lost the first 14 games of the year), Lynch's Cubs qualified for the 1998 playoffs as a Wild Card. During the season, the Cubs were in contention for the division championship, but Lynch "upgraded" the team by acquiring Felix Heredia from Florida and trading Jon Garland to the crosstown White Sox for washed-up reliever Matt Karchner. The first-place Astros meanwhile, traded three prospects for Randy Johnson, who went 10-1 for Houston in 1998 as the Astros pulled away. Karchner and Heredia did not contribute much to the Cubs' playoff bid in 1998. Crueller yet, Heredia was traded to Toronto three years later for Alex Gonzalez, who misplayed a groundball that would have likely been a double play and wound up spurring the Marlins to score 8 runs in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series. In another cruel twist of fate, Garland would become an All-Star starting pitcher for the White Sox in 2005, when they won their first would series in 88 years.
During the off-season before 1999, Lynch dealt outfielder Brant Brown to Pittsburgh for right-handed starting pitcher Jon Lieber, who was the Cubs' Opening Day Starter from 1999 until 2002. Brown had a strong 1998 for the Cubs, but his misplay of a fly ball in Milwaukee nearly cost the Cubs a playoff berth.
Lynch's Cubs were in first place through the first week of June before the team fell apart. He was fired, along with Riggleman, at the end of 1999. MacPhail replaced Lynch.
Source
| Preceded by Larry Himes |
Chicago Cubs General Manager 1994-2000 |
Succeeded by Andy MacPhail |
