Keith Law called it "the most expensive thank you in baseball history." Which is fair, if exactly as nuanced as you'd expect in a tweet.

I think his bounceback potential is somewhere far south of what he's been but way north of what we've seen lately. Strikeouts are awesome.

Finally, this article says the Giants "almost certainly" would have made Lincecum a qualifying offer. This is a dumb observation.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/10/giants-lincecum-agree-to-two-year-deal.html

Giants, Lincecum Agree To Two-Year Deal
By Steve Adams
The Giants have announced a two-year contract with right-hander Tim Lincecum, which will keep the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner from reaching free agency. The deal is believed to be worth $35MM and Lincecum will recieve full no-trade protection, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). The deal will be finalized once Lincecum passes a physical.

The Giants took care of their top offseason priority earlier this month when they agreed to a five-year, $90MM extension with outfielder Hunter Pence and priority No. 2 is now crossed off of the list as well. San Francisco allegedly offered The Freak a two-year pact earlier this month and he turned it down, but it was presumably so that he could secure more money, not a longer deal. If the Giants didn't get a deal done with Lincecum during the exclusive window, they almost certainly would have extended him a one-year, $14MM qualifying offer to guarantee either a return to SF or draft pick compensation.

While Lincecum hasn't regained his Cy Young form, he has bounced back nicely in 2013 after a rough 2012 campaign. The 29-year-old posted a 4.37 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 2013, a marked improvement over his 5.18 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 2012. The advanced metrics are promising too - his FIP (3.73), xFIP (3.56), and SIERA (3.75) are all better than his 2013 ERA as well as his 2012 marks.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

>
>The Giants took care of their top offseason priority earlier
>this month when they agreed to a five-year, $90MM extension
>with outfielder Hunter Pence and priority No. 2 is now crossed
>off of the list as well. San Francisco allegedly offered The
>Freak a two-year pact earlier this month and he turned it
>down, but it was presumably so that he could secure more
>money, not a longer deal. If the Giants didn't get a deal
>done with Lincecum during the exclusive window, they almost
>certainly would have extended him a one-year, $14MM qualifying
>offer to guarantee either a return to SF or draft pick
>compensation.
>


5/90M for that dude.

----------------------------
Same as it ever was!

i thought i heard it wrong when it was 1st reported yesterday. hopefully he has something left to reward them for their thank you, but i am not expecting the old 'freak' to come back.

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

The Rays kind of have their pick of packages if they want to dangle David Price. Scherzer could throw a big wrench in all of that.

Profar would be a nice return for Scherzer. It seems like a slight waste to move him to second, but Iglesias is the better of two excellent shortstop defenders. And having those guys plus Austin Jackson up the middle would go a long way towards addressing one of the few things that aren't presently excellent about the Tigers.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

Jackson really needs to be in the lower half of the order.

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

So, I'd say yes. Unless you absolutely require blinding speed.

The upside is something like Brian Roberts with more speed. And the ability to play shortstop, if Iglesias' bat never comes around.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

I mean any threat from a lead off guy I will take. Its so annoying to get in the playoffs and watch our pitchers deal with asshole leadoff hitters get on base and then when ours decide to get on base the pitcher doesnt even care.

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

And worse, they were stationary on the basepaths against Jorge Posada and the Yankees. I get not wanting to risk it against Andy Pettitte's pickoff move. But Posada... was not strong with controlling the running game.

And it's not like they're saving their legs for six more months of baseball after this. I hated that. Hated it.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

I don't get this for SF.

------

12 play and 12 planets are enlighten for all the Aliens to Party and free those on the Sex Planet-maxxx

XBL: trkc21
Twitter: @tyrcasey

I'd have loved to see a visionary team (so, not ours) ask him to become a high-leverage long reliever. His splits by time-through-the-order are oddly terrible in the early goings of a game - but I have to think his fastball would play up in 3+ inning appearances. He's been durable, so it'd be cool to see if somebody could get 150+ innings out of him in 60 or 70 games.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

http://i.imgur.com/vPqCzVU.jpg

one of the few major sports where you can still throw around funny money

--------