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San Francisco Giants, Fret Not: Tim Lincecum, Los Angeles Angel, Is A Blessing In Disguise

By Dustin Kemp
Published on: 15:22 PST, May 16, 2016

ESPN reports Tim Lincecum’s MLB fate has been decided in that he will wind up (pun very much intended) with the Los Angeles Angels. Many San Francisco Giants fans may initially be disappointed after hearing the news, as the orange and black fan base grew quite attached to Lincecum during the only nine seasons Tim has played in the MLB. Everyone is entitled to their grieving period, but the Giants faithful do not need to beat themselves up about Lincecum’s L.A.-bound departure because there are several solid reasons why the team is totally okay, and maybe even better off, without having Tim Lincecum back.

The first and foremost of these reasons is that San Francisco Giants fans can trust in manager Bruce Bochy. The man is a baseball genius, having taken a team that was really struggling when he stepped in as skipper at the end of the 2006 season and made it into arguably the most successful team in the game, winning three world series between 2010 and 2014.

He has overseen the rise to power of some absolutely phenomenal homegrown Giants players, including league leaders like Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, and Brandon Belt.

He also traded one of the team’s top prospects for Carlos Beltran in 2011, but no one’s perfect.

The point is, Bochy really knows how to manage a baseball team, and, thanks to his privileged position as a literal Giants clubhouse insider, he has access to a uniquely close-up view of the team that fans simply do not.

So when Bochy says the Giants do not need any more starters, Giants fans can be confident he knows what he is talking about. And that is exactly what he said when faced with the prospect of resigning (or letting go of) Tim Lincecum.

When starting pitchers Matt Cain and Jake Peavy were performing terribly, when naysayers were saying the two were done and the team needed Tim Lincecum back to re-stoke the Giants’ proverbial fire, Bochy kept believing.

“I have too much confidence in these two guys,” he told Comcast Sportsnet at the time.

“We’re in April here. I’ve seen some good things and both of them are close. I don’t think there’s an option that’s going to make the staff better.”

And recent performances seem to show that Bochy was right about not needing Tim Lincecum to step in for one of the two “declining” starters, writes ESPN.

“The Giants seemed to indicate they wanted Lincecum back only as a reliever, and since Jake Peavy just had his best start of the season and Matt Cain has allowed three runs in 15 innings over his past two outings, they’re a little less desperate for rotation help than they appeared ten days ago.”

Bochy totally called it, and he has earned enough credit to be believed when he says the San Francisco Giants will be just fine without Tim Lincecum.

And do the Giants look like they need Tim Lincecum’s help right now, anyway? They are currently riding a five-game winning streak and they are sitting atop their division rankings.

Besides that, would Tim Lincecum really have been a positive presence in the clubhouse if he was being made to play in a relief role he did not want to be in?

As Lincecum himself has said many times, he will not be really satisfied unless he is in the starting rotation, and as the ESPN piece noted, Bochy is simply not willing to give it to Lincecum or anyone else at the moment.

So even if Bochy had offered Tim Lincecum the few extra million that would have lured him onto the Giants, it seems probable that Lincecum would have damaged team chemistry, what with being slotted in an unwanted role.

No, Giants fans need not fret over Tim Lincecum’s Los Angeles signing. In fact, it leaves room for new stars to be born. What Giants fans can start pondering now is, who will be the Giants’ next Tim Lincecum?

Besides, San Francisco fans can take solace in the fact that at least Lincecum’s destination is not that other Los Angeles team.

[Photo by Alex Gallardo/AP Images]

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