Angels announce deal with Lincecum
Things are about to get Freaky in Anaheim.
Tim Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young award winner who spent the last nine years with the San Francisco Giants, finalized a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, more than eight months after undergoing hip surgery.
Lincecum, who reportedly passed an extremely thorough physical exam Thursday, will earn a pro-rated base salary of $2.5 million with another $1.7 million available through performance bonuses, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Once considered among the most dominant starters in baseball, the former first-round pick has struggled over the last four seasons amid a marked decline in velocity. A fixture in San Francisco's rotation since his 2007 rookie campaign, Lincecum lost his starting job late in 2014 and made just 15 starts last year before undergoing his season-ending hip procedure.
Split | ERA | WHIP | K% | HR/9 |
---|---|---|---|---|
2007-2011 | 2.98 | 1.19 | 26.5% | 0.58 |
2012-2015 | 4.68 | 1.40 | 21.6% | 1.02 |
At a showcase for prospective suitors earlier this month, though, Lincecum found some of the velocity he had lost in recent seasons - he topped out at 92 mph - and scouts were reportedly impressed with his changeup and curveball.
"I'm happy. I was able to throw strikes on my pitches, stay within myself. I commanded all of my pitches," Lincecum said at the time. "I only had a couple misses, and they weren't (over the) middle of the plate, so that's encouraging for me."
Lincecum, who turns 32 next month, will join a decimated pitching staff likely to be without Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney for the remainder of the season, with murky timetables for potential returns from C.J. Wilson and Tyler Skaggs.