Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News spoke to several people about a possible long-term contract for Giants ace Tim Lincecum.
The team's president, Larry Baer, expressed a willingness to discuss an extension during the season. Lincecum would also be fine with that, as he'll let his agent Rick Thurman handle the talks. General manager Brian Sabean said he remains open to an extension for Lincecum, but admitted, "Going year to year may not be a bad option at this point." Sabean referred to Lincecum extension talks as a "back-burner issue."
Sabean notes that Lincecum stands to get paid once he enters arbitration, anyway. Baggarly says Lincecum profiles as a Super Two player after this season, meaning he'll go to arbitration four times in his career instead of the normal three. Back in February, the Giants threw a few hundred thousand dollars in goodwill money toward Lincecum, signing him at $650K even though the pitcher and his agent had no say in it. Baggarly talked to an industry source who believes a Lincecum extension would exceed Cole Hamels' three years and $20.5MM. Hamels is also a Super Two, so his contract doesn't take him through all his arbitration years.
In another article, Baggarly talks about the possibility of an extension for Sabean. New managing general partner Bill Neukom and Sabean have exchanged ideas about objectives for Sabean that could lead to a new contract. Manager Bruce Bochy's contract is also up after the season.
