Wednesday marks the four-year anniversary of the Angels bringing in one of the most accomplished starting pitchers of the previous decade. On May 20, 2016, they signed right-hander Tim Lincecum to a guaranteed contract worth a prorated $2.5MM. Considering Lincecum’s past achievements, it was worth a shot for the pitcher-needy Angels, but the experiment didn’t work out for either side. Lincecum didn’t even finish the season with the Angels, who only won 74 games that year and who designated him for assignment in the first week of August.
Of course, Lincecum brought a superb resume to the Angels. As a member of the Giants from 2007-15, “The Freak” made four All-Star teams, won three World Series championships and took home two National League Cy Young Awards. The San Francisco version of Lincecum also piled up 1,643 2/3 regular-season innings (269 appearances, 261 starts) and posted a 3.61 ERA with 9.33 K/9 and 3.54 BB/9. For the most part, Lincecum’s career started going off the rails in 2012, in which his 2.74 ERA from the prior season skyrocketed to 5.18, but there was still some magic left. Lincecum threw a 148-pitch no-hitter against the Padres in 2013, and he no-hit the Friars yet again the next season.
It was incredible that Lincecum recorded a no-hitter in back-to-back seasons, but shining moments have been few and far between since he underwent hip surgery in his last month as a Giant in September 2015. The Giants didn’t re-sign Lincecum after that, leading him to join the Angels several months later. That gamble couldn’t have gone much worse for the Angels, with whom Lincecum debuted June 18, 2016. It looked like a great move at first, as Lincecum threw six innings of one-run ball in a win over the Athletics in his Halos debut, but that proved to be his sole quality start with the team. Lincecum ultimately amassed 38 1/3 frames of 9.16 ERA pitching as an Angel. His last appearance came Aug. 5, when he yielded six earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in a loss to Seattle, before the Angels put an end to his run in their uniform.
Lincecum did get another shot, this time with the Rangers, on a guaranteed deal in 2018. That didn’t work out, though. The Rangers released Lincecum on June 5, 2018, when MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote: “He’s been ramping up after missing much of the early portion of the season, but things haven’t gone especially well in Triple-A Round Rock. Lincecum has totaled 12 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, yielding eight earned runs on 14 hits and nine walks with 10 strikeouts in that time.”
There hasn’t been any Lincecum news on MLBTR’s pages since then, and even though he hasn’t officially retired, it’s hard to believe the soon-to-be 36-year-old will return to the majors. Lincecum was definitely a treat to watch during his peak from 2008-11, though. He totaled 200-plus innings in each of those seasons, combined for a matching 2.81 ERA/FIP with 9.97 K/9 and 3.21 BB/9, and cemented himself as a Giants icon. Unfortunately, odds are that his time in MLB is done.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I love the times he fell on the mound pitching…
Best part of his career was when Phillies fans were treating him like a female in the 2010 NLCS by giving him catcalls
I’m thinking Lincecum might disagree with you there. You’re one odd cat Louisiana. Going out on a limb here guessing you’re a single guy. Good luck with all that
Would you please refresh my memory on how that series turned out.
Too many double doubles from in-n-out did him in.
He was good at one time. As good as anybody.
Smoking all the marijuana ruined his career.
Had a lot of natural talent but ultimately went to waste
Winner! Dumbest comment on the thread.
The dude smoked his entire career. That has nothing to do with it.
It didn’t help Jonathan singleton.
It was his pitching mechanics that ruined his career
Or his degenerative hip injury.
Wow…ignorance in it’s purest form. LouisianaAstros must’ve just finished watching “Reefer Madness” with the ghost of William Randolph Hearst
You just can’t say “waste” when the guy had multiple Cy Young’s and World Series Rings.
This is the dumbest comment ever. He got caught with weed after winning his Cy Youngs. Why do you think the Bay Area made let Timmy smoke t-shirts.
What a stupid comment. Marijuana had nothing to do with ruining his career. lol!
Just a heads up, we are in the year 2020 now, i have some feeling you are no aware of that.
How to catch a Pothead?
Pretty easy.
Not as easy as spotting a low effort troll attempt.
Boy, he was a great pitcher, but would get lit up when he went to Phoenix.
Goldschmidt had his number.
Never understood that tbh lol Tim would cut through the NL like a hot knife through butter and then face Goldschmidt and get absolutely clobbered. He just saw him well I guess.
Big Time Timmy Jim
Jam
It’s crazy that the Angels have been searching for pitching that long but have four nine-figure contracts in their lineup.
They are going to be in Trouts 2nd 10 yr span when Pujols/ JUp finally dissolve
Arte has 1 more chance for a run with the best player this half century. He has to be feeling the heat
Art is a spoiled rich old fart that is so proud that he can make the decisions for his expert decision makers He reminds me of Al Davis
They’ve always mismanaged their money. And I’m not talking about Trout. That was a necessary deal for the Angels.
He’s a hall of famer. Best pitcher in baseball for 5 years, 2 cy youngs, 3 titles, dominated in 2010 playoffs. He should be in when eligible.
He’ll certainly be a good litmus rest because he was dominant at his peak. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t have the longevity needed. It’s a shame because if he could’ve reinvented himself as a solid mid-rotation guy these past few years then he’d have a good shot to crack Cooperstown.
As long as he threw in the mid 90’s he was dominate, once he couldn’t he was done after that moment. His slider & splitter were amazing off that 95 fastball, once he threw
90 the hitters were able to make the adjustment. He simply was a product of a 100% max effort delivery and his body broke down.
Degenerative hip injury
Tim Raines is a Hall of Famer and he wasn’t dominant or anything
He won’t even get 5%. Johan Santana was a better example of a short term dominant pitcher and he fell off the ballot after one year. Sure the WS titles are there, but Matt Cain has those same titles and he is not getting in the Hall without a ticket. He was a great pitcher, but just not for long enough to be considered an all time great.
Yea it’s not even close. He had only two HOF caliber seasons and two more that were pretty good. That’s basically it. A bWAR of 19-20 for his career. No way is he a HOFer.
Johan was substantially better too and didn’t come close to the HOF. He didn’t have the string of terrible seasons Tim had at the end of his career. Johan ended up being 36% above league average and Lincecum was only 4% above league average.
Tim>Johan
Really? Santana 50 career b-WAR. Lincecum 20 career b-WAR.
Baseball Reference has Alex Fernandez’s career as the #1 comp to Lincecum. He had ONE year when he was 29 that he compared to Bob Gibson. That’s it.
Absolutely not. Its unofficial that you need need 7 elite seasons to get in and Tim only had 4. Even if you want to give some wiggle room on that, four years is not a long enough peak. Besides he was not the best pitcher in baseball at that time. Thats Kershaw and its not even up for debate. Please dont waste your time telling me “rings” is your reason for that.
They were both drafted in 2006. Just as Kershaw became great, Lincecum began his slide.
Kershaw is as automatic a Hall=of-Famer as there is. Timmy’s not close.
Rings count if you’re a boxer.
Having said that, the Dodgers are my least favorite team, the Giants are my favorite and it’s been that way since April 15, 1958. Lincecum is a folk hero in S.F., but that’s it.
Hall of fame? Lol. He’s not even close. you sound like a buffoon
says the pot callin the kettle black
He will never make the HOF. A few good years of productivity does not amount to HOF credentials.
I don’t think he is.. 10 total seasons. 5 really good ones, 5 really terrible ones. When it all evens out, he ended up being 4% above average.
He’s not even in the same area code as Cooperstown.
If Lincecum is a Hall of Famer then Bret Saberhagen should be in.
Lincecum is not a Hall of Famer. We can name at least 10 pitchers more deserving than Lincecum who pitched over the last 40 years.
19.6 career WAR won’t make it to the Hall, pal. He was truly everywhere between mediocre and horrible from 2012 on. 2012-2016 he was worth -4.6 WAR.
He won’t get in the HoF, nor should he. The resume just isn’t long enough, even with the great highlights. Even if we pretend for a minute though that it’s maybe close, I think he’d be hurt by the same thing that hurts Andruw Jones- those last few seasons were beyond awful, and those memories stick.
Steroid era pitcher
Peak steroid era happened way before Lincecum debuted in 2007.
His PED of choice was Weed
Come out onto the mound and get hitters contact high
Ever had any experience with weed or are you just spouting off? Sometimes it’s better to just remain quiet if you are uninformed
So are garbage cans Performance Enhancing Household Items? Asking for a friend.
As underrated as they come
How? Everyone knew of hos greatness when he was doing it.
He sucked half of his career and was good half of his career. Overall he was just average.
I so wanted to see him succeed with the Rangers, but I saw him fail at AAA Round Rock. Too bad.
Hard to come back after major hip surgery. Especially with his type of delivery
I was at his first game as a Halo in Oakland. He pitched great. The stadium was full of A’s fans, Angels fans, Giants fans, and pure baseball fans. Great to see. It is a shame his prime ended very early
You got to see the last of the greatness. Good memory. Thanks for sharing.
Lincecum reminds me a lot of Dontrelle Willis but with way more awards on his resumé and back-to-back dominant seasons compared to one for Willis. They both had funky deliveries, were both high school draft picks of the Cubs (Lincecum electing college instead of signing) were both very good at preventing homers (both actually having lead the entire league in that category once), had a tendency to get wild on the mound (eventually getting to levels similar to Rick Ankiel), and both were pretty much great right out of the gates (Willis was an All-Star and a 21 year old Rookie of the Year winner, while Lincecum won a Cy Young as a sophomore and then won it again right after).
After their first few seasons in the Majors they both looked like guys you’d probably be watching end up as big time stars for the next decade or more – but then by the time that they hit their mid-twenties the magic was just gone. Willis’ fall was more obvious (and Lincecum definitely gave you more hope that he’d figure out how to become good again after he declined) as he all of a sudden he couldn’t find home plate with his pitches after being included with Miguel Cabrera in the famous trade to the Tigers. Then after his stint in Detroit Willis was a part of different organizations around the league at a rate that would make Edwin Jackson proud.
Lincecum reminds me a lot of Jeff Spicoli.
Their complicated pitching deliveries didn’t hold up./
Lincecum had a horrible pre game diet – three double cheeseburgers, fries, shake equaling 3100 calories. Once called out by an opponent as fat and out of shape. Then the hip injury occurred and it was lights out on what could have been a Kershaw like career…
You want to cite your source for this? Or are you thinking of someone else.
Not to mention his drug habit.
Let’s face the facts.
The Fall of the Freak possibly had to do with him being an unhealthy lazy pothead.
Too much circumstantial evidence here.
I know a lot of potheads and the general public is much lazier and fatter than they are
Louisiana –
Oh look…your ignorance is showing again!
His “fall” had to do to a degenerative hip injury that could not have been avoided.
Steve –
Yeah that is 100% true, but let’s not let facts get in the way of Nancy Reagan’s (aka LouisianaAstros) anti-weed campaign.
It’s true. That was his meal at In and Out Burger. Not sure if that was pre game meal,
but it was his “go to meal.” Three double doubles. Two orders of fries. Chocolate Strawberry shake. March 17, 2011. Jim Caple of ESPN wrote a story about Lincecum.
Literally every sentence of this post is dubious. It wasn’t a pre-game diet, who cares IF one potentially bitter opponent made a comment about his weight at one point, and it was a degenerative hip condition, not an injury per se. He was going to lose that ability anyway…rather than act like we lost something, why not celebrate his freakish talents?
Dubious? It was what Lincecum himself talked about. So he ate crappy food. Who cares? There’s nothing dubious about it.
Stoners usually have bad dietary habits.
Time for a little do-si-do down memory lane…
“Good to see the rangers solidify their rotation with a true ace! Lincecums fastball peaked at 98mph over the winter, which goes to show he still has gas left in the tank.”
“First and foremost I gurantee Tim will make it into their rotation before the all-star break, there are very achievable goals in place that he must reach to be added to the rotation, once he meets those easily achievable goals he will immediately be moved into a starting role, no this is no BS I have sources with great knowledge of the lincecum deal. Secondly, off season tryout? I’m assuming you are referring to Tims showcase? You are correct he did not hit 98 at the showcase. I never said it was at the showcase, I said it was over the winter. Tim is a very ace capable pitcher, he’s a lot better than many of you think. Screenshot my comment and mark my words, Tim makes the rotation before the allstar break, unless he suffers a long term injury it’s a guarantee.”
“Lincecum likely to get a minor league deal? lol is this guy nuts!?!? Lincecum is a top of the rotation ace and will draw several high dollar offers. This isn’t the old lincecum, he touched 98mph during his show showcase! His slider is nastier than ever! And scouts and team representatives in attendance were blown away…..other than the Yankees apparently. Lincecum is a beast! I just hope my cubbies pick him up.”
The freaky franchise….
Didn’t the guy turn down a huge extension right before his collapse? Ha! I believe I’m right with this and how that isnt in this article (unless I read past it)….the guy was great and then got too big a head and collapsed along with injuries. Reminds me an awful lot of Harvey.
Not at all. After the 2013 season, a very poor one, he signed a two=year $35 million contract. Over those two years, he had a lucky 19-13 record with a 4.54 ERA.
In the 2014 postseason, he pitched a total of 1.2 innings.
never understood what exactly caused Lincecum to fall off. always seemed very sudden to me.
Horrible mechanics, but I guess that was too hard to see for you?
He had a degenerative hip injury. A genetic thing. Similar to Jared Weaver except Tim’s happened much younger.
To everyone saying he had “horrible” mechanics. He did not. It was a bit unorthodox, but they were designed to allow his body to be in the perfect position to generate max velocity while not harming the body. He never got hurt at any level until his degenerative hip injury happened which could not have been avoided considering it was genetic.
Do some research. His mechanics sucked, and they were like that to get as much power from his lower body because he was such a small framed guy.
“After performing the operation, surgeon Marc Philipon categorized the damage NOT as degenerative, but as relatively due to normal wear and tear.”
His mechanics were also tested over a lot of innings (including post-seasons in ‘10 and’12) and high pitch counts. Dude couldn’t generate his usual torque without that big turn in his hips, and his velocity never recovered. His 2014 WS appearance was a thing of beauty until he tweaked it again. Thanks for noting his durability. For a smaller player, he was tough. My God, he was an absolute fiend in the 2010 playoffs. That game against the Braves and his performance against Texas was outstanding.
sadly he could have extended his career by moving to the pen but always profiled himself as a starter, even when his numbers fell off a cliff he was dominant the first and often second time through the order. Either as a swing man or a closer it would have taken less of a toll on his body and his mechanics mid game or late game would have been a plus rather than an adjustment. Still glad I was able to see multiple double digit SO games in person though, at his peak he was something to watch
Paul Goldschmidt was the fall of the freak… from this his first game against him he had his #. Every AB after that against him you saw Timmy lose it more and more
Contrast the Freak with Greinke (article I just read), the latter has maintained success with less velocity because he has incredible control, the ability to develop pitches, create deception, study hitter’s tendencies. The Freak was only good with an above average fastball. But he was really good for a short time. I don’t see him as a hall of fame pitcher, but there is the Koufax comparison for shorter careers.
The Koufax comparison? Really? 49 WAR to 19.6. 2.76 ERA to 3.74. ERA+ 131 to 104. 2324 IP to 1682. 165-87 WL to 110-89. Koufax was beyond ridiculously good compared to Lincecum. Even if you don’t agree with the WAR numbers, they are so far apart it’s not even a discussion.
I was really hopeful after his debut game with the Angels. Unless he’s had an amazing turn around, I hope he officially retires. I wonder if he’s planning another showcase with the hopes of getting on roster in a shortened season.
The Freak had a devastating run for Giants. I saw Koufax many times. To be mentioned in the same breath with him is an honor. Both could be virtually and literally unhitable at times. Thanks Tim and Sandy for all the great starts. You made baseball fun to watch. ⚾️
Lincecum has never really addressed the issue of his velocity or hip situation in interviews. I keep seeing “degenerative” in here, but every report and explanation about the “degenerative” condition was that it was normal wear and tear for athletes. Not something genetic and unavoidable or particularly troublesome.
The labrum tear in his hip was not “degenerative” it was a serious injury which required a relatively extensive surgery to repair and had significant potential to end his career as labrum surgical repairs are not and easy recovery. It proved the end of his career. From what Lincecum has said, his stability never returned and he continued to have pain.
Lincecum was so much fun to watch, he gave hope to the little guy who has dreams to playing in the majors one day and can still be elite star.
His decline is not to shocking, but I bet 99% of pitchers in the world would trade spots with him in a heartbeat.
To really get to the core of appreciating Lincecum, you have to go back to 2007. That was about as grim as I’d ever felt as a Giants fan since 1972. They had come so close to winning the title and then had fallen off a cliff. Bonds was 42 and in his last season; they’d given Zito that ridiculous contract. Cain was up but hadn’t really proven himself at the major league level.
I saw Lincecum for the first time at spring training that year – he came in to pitch relief in the midst of the Giants getting blown out by the Mariners. Of course, the first time you see Lincecum, you laugh at how short and skinny he is. Then he goes into that funky windup and just starts striking people out. We gave him a standing ovation in spring training for his 1 inning of work.
He comes up early in 2007 and holds his own. 2008? 18-5, Cy Young Award. Giants are still terrible. 2009? Cy Young Award #2. Giants finally climb back up over .500 finishing third in their division despite having a lineup filled with the likes of Travis Ishikawa, Emmanuel Burris, Fred Lewis and Aaron Rowand.
2010? We know what happens. Lincecum doesn’t win the CYA but still wins 16 games, including 5 in September. He wins 4 games in the postseason, including two in the World Series.
So Lincecum’s legacy will always be seen by Giants fan as his central role in reversing 56 years of frustration that was especially acute for those of us who watched them implode in 2002 and waste a 100-win season in 2003.
Not a Hall of Famer, but in the context of this, he goes down as one of the greatest Giants of all time.
What is the deal with really good pitchers leaving the bay area and falling apart? Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, and I’m sure there’s more.
I wouldn’t have Hudson on that list. He was generally quite good with Atlanta. Over nine years with the exceptions of his sophomore and final season with them he logged at least a 110 ERA+. Far, far from “falling apart”.
Also Zito only ever played in the Bay Area and he only fell off once he left Oakland for the Giants.
marijuana tweaked his hip
I was a clubbie in Round Rock when he was down in AAA with the Rangers and I can say in my 4 years of working back there, he was the nicest and genuine person I’ve ever encountered. He would have stayed down in RR even after his 60 day rehab expired but wanted a major league deal (for reasons you can probably infer). Just a great dude and great teammate that everyone wished could have came back and been productive.
Believe it or not had the chance to be around madbum one summer and he told me if Timmy would simply stop smoking he would’ve been a HOF’er sucked to hear considering he is my favorite player ever