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It seemed all season that the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum were bound to part ways during the 2013-2014 off-season. Major League Baseball just isn’t one of those places where decent pitchers can usually spend their entire careers with one team, especially after a couple of off-years like Lincecum has had. The fact is that he and his agent think he is worth more than the Giants do and both sides have good points to support their position. The end result will likely be no Lincecum for the Giants anymore.
The Giants to their credit did extend an offer to Lincecum and I don’t mean a qualifying offer. This was an offer for a couple of years of more than decent money. Considering his lacking performance over the last couple of seasons, he should really be pleased with it if he wanted to stay with the Giants. The fact is him ignoring the offer and stating that he wants to test the free agent market suggests he really might not want to be in San Francisco anymore.
Many teams figure to be very interested including the team from Lincecum’s hometown of Seattle. Yes the Seattle Mariners might be interested and if they are a very strong case could be made for them to bring him in. The Giants will make a qualifying offer to Lincecum worth a year and about $14MM which means that any team signing him would have to give a draft pick, usually a first rounder to the Giants.
The Mariners however have a protected first round pick so it wouldn’t cost them nearly as much as it would another team to sign Lincecum. The basic moral of this story is simple. Lincecum has an offer that would be fine if he really wanted to return. He doesn’t want to return if he can get more money to go somewhere he might really want to go, like home. Relax though Giants fans, I don’t have to tell you that the best years from Lincecum are likely in the past.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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