MLB San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants Forced To Move Tim Lincecum Back To Rotation

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By @Bigwoolf5

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

Peter Aiken-USA Today Sports

Madison Bumgarner was the star of the World Series without question as he led the San Francisco Giants to three of the four wins almost single-handedly. Aside from the World Series MVP, the rest of the starting rotation was awful throughout the entire playoffs; and while Tim Lincecum really isn’t an improvement, the Giants have no choice but to add him into the rotation for next year.

As of right now, next year’s starting rotation for the Giants will include Bumgarner, a recovered Matt Cain, Tim Hudson (who is signed for one more year) and Jake Peavy, who has a $15 million player option for next year. With Ryan Vogelsong being a free agent, there is a spot left in the rotation and the Giants have to choose Lincecum for one reason: Money.

Before the 2014 season, the Giants re-signed Linceum to a two-year deal worth $35 million. This year, he is scheduled to make $18 million, and regardless of how he has been performing, no team wants to pay that kind of money to a long reliever.

The fact that Lincecum will more than likely be the Giants’ fifth starter doesn’t mean he deserves it. Lincecum was an All-Star for four straight years from 2008 to 2011 and won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2008 and 2009. But in 2012, things started to go downhill for Lincecum and his ERA has been above 4.37 every year since. Lincecum’s lowest WAR from 2007-2011 was 2.3, which happened in his rookie year. Since 2011, his WAR has been in the negatives, which is quite the drop-off.

Lincecum will be a part of the rotation next year, but that decision was made last offseason when they threw all that money at him. If Lincecum continues to perform the way he has over the past three years, the Giants will really regret that $35 million contract from last offseason, regardless of what he has done for them in the past.

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