Too Much

Why the Tim Lincecum deal was bad for the San Francisco Giants Back in 2011 when Tim Lincecum signed a 2 year, $40 million salary, it seemed the San Francisco Giants had locked a 4-time All-Star and a 2-time Cy Young winner at the price he was worth. From 2007 (his first year in the league) to 2011, Tim Lincecum put up a 69-41 win-loss record, a 2.98 ERA, 1127 strikeouts in 1028 innings, and had a combined WAR of 25.6. However after signing his big deal, he preceded to put up numbers that looked this this, 20-29 win-loss, 4.76 ERA, 383 strikeouts in 383.2 innings, with a combined WAR of -2.3. That means over the last 2 years, a replacement level pitcher would have had 2.3 more wins that Tim Lincecum. Last year Lincecum made $22 million, ranking him 8th in the league. According to baseballplayersalaries.com, Lincecum accounted for 15.19% of the Giants payroll while contributing -2.14% to the teams on-field performance. Or as they classified, Tim Lincecum is a bum. I can understand the Giants wanting to keep Lincecum as a sentimental type thing, but having already giving $90 million to Hunter Pence, on top of a team salary of $142 million; the Giants leave themselves in a bad position to sign free-agents. Then again, the Giants have won 2 World Series in 4 years, and have always gone the path of home-grown talent over free agency, so what do I know? Im not saying Tim Lincecum is a bad player, but if you decide to pay him an average of $17.5 million a year, does he really look that attractive.

Teammates congratulate Tim Lincecum after pulling of a heist of $35 million from the Giants