Preliminary Talks For Markakis Extension

N. Markakis to renewed 09

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arod13

Tim, put yourself in Brian Sabean and Bill Neukom's shoes next spring. Your Number One pitcher may have just won the Cy Young, and yet his dad wants to stay away from doing what Cain did and instead wants to go year-to-year with the Giants.

So the question is this: how high do you go with a renewal amount for Lincecum to keep him and dad from feeling disrespected while not pissing off the other teams for going too high? Or should you even care about pissing off the other teams after your guy just won the Cy Young, when you've got him under control for another several years, and want to have a long-term relationship with him?

$1 million?

$2 million?

$3 million?

How about instead of trading Cain like everybody talks about, you trade Lincecum, his whiney dad, and his frail body and collect an enormous bounty. If I was Sabean I would be trying to move Lincecum for a huge package right now. I know, I know, SI says his delivery is perfect and blah blah blah, but he is going to hurt himselfooner rather then later. Mark it down.

It is also interesting that Lincecum has been rocked by good offensive teams. Colorado, Milwaukee, NYM, and Philadelphia have just had their way with him. It drives me insane to hear people call this guy a top 5 pitcher in the league. And to say he is better then Cole Hamels or Jamie Shields or even Chad Billingsley. I am not sure he is better then other really good young pitchers. I know this guy is a good pitcher, I just don't see what makes him that much more special then other young pitchers. He just seems so hyped up that he almost has to be overated. Sell him high. Do it. Let the nrmax88 bashing commence.

Regardless of what has been written I think the Giants will lock up Lincecum this winter. 5 years/$32M with a team option year or two perhaps.

Shields, Billingsley and Hamels to a lesser extent all have similar statistics if not worse when it comes to facing good teams. That is what makes them good teams. He also has not pitched enough innings against teams outside of the NL west to make stats significant.

Did someone really compare Pujols going 0-4 vs Lincecum pitching 109 innings?

Here you go:

Pujols career AB's - 4578 / the 0-4 example would constitute 0.087% of Albert's total AB's

Lincecum career IP - 373 / the 109 IP example would constitute 29% of Lincecum's total innings pitched

I wouldn't consider 30% of a players performance irrelevant. While I don't completely agree with nrmax88 on Lincecum's future, his point is still valid.

Finally, I'm in the minority by saying that both Lincecum and Cain should be moved after this season. Let someone else deal with Lincecum and the arb process. If Howard got $10m in his first time isn't reasonable that Tim could get a figure like that as well?

You absolutely don't trade Lincecum until he has 1-2 years left until FA. He is the fact of the Giants franchise. Bonds is gone. Zito sucks. Unless the deal is absolutely knock-an-intelligent-GM's-socks off (not Brian Sabean's), he shouldn't be traded.

How many starts has Lincecum had against the Mets and Brewers this year? A grand total of two. He dominated the Phillies, btw.

Lincecum's overall 2007 stats (he was a mid-season callup) weren't ace-caliber anyway, so take that with a grain of salt.

Since we're having fun here bj, if you support moving both of them now, what in your mind could the Giants possibly get back for both that would make it worth undoing the rotation for the next 2-3 seasons?

Bill James rated Markakis as #10 in his list of "Top 25 Players Under Age 30." For those of us who have seen him play in person, he deserves that biling. I am not sure if he gets the Gold GLove but he deserves it. That arm is a pitcher's arm, and, not just any pitchers' arm. He must be throwing 95+ mph strikes to home.

I saw Markakis do BP several times and everytime I've seen him, he hits nearly ever ball out. But not only that, he hits every ball out to right in a row, then to center, then to left. In other words, he is practicing swings to hit for power to specific fields. He's not just trying to make contact. The last time I saw that kind of control in BP it was Edgar Martinez. It's unbeliavable. But anyone who's ever seen him play in person in a game will know his biggest feature is his eye. He had excellent strikezone in the minors, and Day 1 in the majors, and it hasn't changed since. His rising OBP reflects that.

Lincecum for Ian Kinsler, maybe add a prospect to one side of the deal.

Tim is right ^^^^ Historically speaking, goodwill or treating a player "right" does not buy a team a discount usually. It can happen sometimes but there's a lot of other different factors involved, and, those players eventually regret such decisions. In general teams are better off thinking in their own interests, and, the player thinking of their own.

cwilli.... I left out the Cards because I don't consider their offense to be that good. It was better in 08, but I don't consider their offense on the level of the cubs, Mets, Phils, or Brewers. I didn't leave the Cubs out. I said the Cubs were the one exception to what I was saying, though that could be because the Cubs are so right handed loaded.

The Lincecum trade speculation is absurd. People have zero grip on reality if they think that he is worth a "little" more than Peavy, and are you kidding nrmax88 by saying Lincecum and Lowry?

Let me know the last time a 24 year old SP who is about to win the Cy Young, and has the potential to sustain his success was traded?

nrmax88: So you don't think the Cards offense is as good as the Cubs, Mets, Phils, or Brewers? That's odd...the Cards ranked 4th in the NL in runs (ahead of MIL), first in hits, second in total bases, 4th in RBI (ahead of MIL), first in batting average, second in OBP, and third in SLG. So the stats say that the Cards are in deed one of the top teams offensively...actually they are better than the Mets and Brewers when you get down to it.

This Lincecum trade talk is ridiculous. Seriously. Lincecum is young and still relatively cheap. He is not close to free agency, and he plays for a team with a good budget. Why in the world would the Giants trade their best homegrown pitcher in a decade (perhaps more)?