HOUSTON _ From the bellyaching Monday following the trade deadline, after Lance Lynn wasn't dealt for a package of parts a contending team felt it could live without, came the question of what good is Lynn going to do the headed-nowhere Texas Rangers.
The 2021 payroll is going to be slashed, and the Rangers' window to contend likely isn't going to open until after Lynn's contract expires following next season.
Seems like a waste of a wanted commodity who has emerged the past two seasons as no worse than a No. 2 starter.
But that's not the way the Rangers see it.
There's more to Lynn than the fastballs he pumps and the beard he no longer appears able to manage.
The right-hander has taken ownership of the pitching staff at a time when it needs as much help as it can get.
If the Rangers are going young again, and they want Lynn around to help make them older than they are.
"We've had many talks, and I know he's on board with what we're trying to do and with what I'm trying to do," manager Chris Woodward said. "He represents, in my opinion, everything that I want of a player _ just the way he prepares, the way he competes and the way he treats everybody on and off the field.
"What he does, it's a great example for all of our younger guys. And he goes out of his way to help those younger guys, and that's something that's really stood out for me. He doesn't have to do that."
Lynn started Thursday for the first time since the deadline passed, and was the losing pitcher in an 8-4 loss to the Houston Astros.
The Rangers plan to give rookie Kyle Cody his first career start Friday to open a four-game series at Seattle, and left-hander John King could make his MLB debut behind Cody.
They were both watching Lynn closely. There is a lot to learn from him.
"I don't want to be vague, but it's kind of everything," Cody said. "How he goes about his business and the stuff he talks about with the catcher in between innings and just how he handles himself in different counts and different areas of the game.
"There's so much I can pay attention to and learn from that he's been doing for so many years. So I've just got to just try and take as much in as I can."
Lynn watches bullpen sessions, offers tips and teaches young pitchers how to be professionals. He doesn't force anything on a young pitcher, a lesson he learned when he was developing.
The hope is the young pitchers learned Thursday about crisis management.
The Astros scored four times in the first. They had three singles and a run after Lynn's first four pitches. Alemdys Diaz connected for a three-run homer to cap what was, by far, Lynn's worst inning of the season.
But Lynn adjusted. He allowed only one base runner over the next two innings and pitched around two walks in a scoreless fourth.
The Astros scored once in the fifth, turning a leadoff hit-by-pitch and two shift-beating ground singles into a 5-2 lead. Martin Maldonado took Lynn deep to start the sixth, but he finished strong _ at 111 pitches _ by striking out Michael Brantley.
The need to keep firing is the lesson Lynn taught the young pitchers Thursday.
"When you get slapped in the mouth in the first, you're not going to give up," said Lynn, who allowed a season-high six runs. "That's just the truth of it. You've got to stay out there for the guys. I stayed out there until the sixth. Whenever you're having a bad one, you've still got to give everything you've got."
