Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum has signed with the Los Angeles Angels, as the team announced, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Thursday it will be a $2.5 million deal with another $1.7 million in incentives.
“To sign a contract with the Angels meant the world to me,” Lincecum said, per Shaikin.
“Success will be being healthy at the end of this season, and seeing where I am after that,” Lincecum added, per Shaikin.
Lincecum, 31, went 7-4 with a 4.13 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 60 strikeouts in 15 starts and 76.1 innings pitched in 2015 for the San Francisco Giants.
The former star was one of the finest pitchers in all of baseball from 2008 to 2011 and was a key contributor to the team’s three World Series titles since 2010. But in recent years he’s been mediocre, a far cry from the dominant pitcher he had been.
His 2015 season was cut short after he required surgery on his left hip, but despite that setback, Lincecum doesn’t plan on calling it quits anytime soon.
“To be honest, I feel like I could pitch for a good five or six more years until I can’t anymore at this point,” he told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com in early May. “I’m nowhere near that point.”
Angels general manager Billy Eppler said Lincecum should need 20 to 30 days in the minor leagues and will throw a simulated game on Monday, per Shaikin.
“He’ll tell us when he’s ready,” Eppler added, per Shaikin. “He’s earned that.”
A change of scenery might be just the thing for Lincecum, though at this point in his career, it seems unlikely he’ll ever be a Cy Young candidate again. Still, he gives the Angels a veteran presence on the mound and a pitcher capable of either giving a team decent innings at the back end of the rotation or sliding into the bullpen as a long reliever.
Add in his extensive postseason experience, and Lincecum’s signing should bolster the Angels’ pitching staff.
Los Angeles currently sits 18-22 and has had trouble finding consistency in its starting rotation. The team currently is tied for 22nd in quality starts (16) and ranks below league average in ERA, WHIP and batting average against.
The team lost Andrew Heaney to season-ending surgery after one start, and Garrett Richards went down with a UCL tear earlier this month. If Lincecum can even be an average MLB starter, he’s going to be a huge boost to a staff in desperate need of help.
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