Tag: Tim Lincecum (Page 11 of 14)

      SI.com’s MLB 2009 midseason awards

      July 6, 2009 /

      Jon Heyman of SI.com hands out his 2009 midseason awards as baseball’s All-State Game approaches.

      AL MVP
      1. Joe Mauer, Twins. Looks like it’ll be three times for an AL catcher winning a batting title, with the previous two winners also being Mauer. Superb pick by former GM Terry Ryan and those great Twins scouts taking Mauer over the higher-priced Mark Prior. Terrific defender. On a level by himself.

      NL MVP
      1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals. No contest here. His numbers (33, 82, .336) are crazy, even for him. The absolute best.

      AL Cy Young
      1. Zack Greinke, Royals. He doesn’t have that sub-Gibby ERA anymore (now there’s an breakable record), but he has generally been the best pitcher in the league. How else to win 10 games with that offense?

      NL Cy Young
      1. Tim Lincecum, Giants. What happened to that slow start? He’s 9-2 with a 2.23 ERA and 141 strikeouts. The Giants have to get off their duff and try to lock this guy up.

      AL Rookie of the Year

      1. Ricky Romero, Blue Jays. Toronto was ripped for taking the left-hander a spot ahead of Troy Tulowitzki, but he’s 6-3 with 2.85 ERA.

      NL Rookie of the Year
      1. Colby Rasmus, Cardinals. After a poor spring he’s showing the talent that everyone saw in him last spring (10, 32, .282).

      You can check out the rest of Heyman’s awards here.

      Heyman’s awards are littered with young players, which is great for the game of baseball as it tries to shed its steroid image. Players like Mauer, Greinke and Lincecum (just to name a few) are helping turn around baseball and make the game fun to watch again. It seems like more teams are playing small ball these days and it’s making for tighter games and more exciting finishes.

      Baseball seems fun again.

      MLB

      Lincecum runs scoreless streak to 23 innings

      July 4, 2009 /

      Tim Lincecum pitched seven scoreless innings in the Giants’ 9-0 win over the Astros on Saturday. He has now thrown 23 scoreless innings in his last three games and has lowered his ERA to 2.23 while amassing a 9-2 record.

      So much for Lincecum’s arm falling off. After tossing 227 innings last season, many thought that “The Franchise” would suffer a post-Cy Young slump and sift into arm-trouble hell. And when he started the season 0-1 with two no decisions, the I-told-you-so’s were out in full force.

      But Lincecum has been absolutely filthy of late, with Saturday marking his 14th career start in which he’s allowed zero earned runs in seven or more innings. That ties Ron Gudry and Fernando Valenzuela for the fourth-most such starts by a pitcher in his first 75 career games since 1954, with Dwight Gooden leading all players in that category with 23.

      With the Giants playing on the West Coast, Lincecum seemingly doesn’t get the national attention he deserves. But he’s the best young pitcher in the game and if San Fran can continue to play well this season, maybe they’ll make the postseason and his skills can be on full display come mid-October.

      MLB

      National League All-Star voting–who is leading and who should be

      July 4, 2009 /

      Last week we picked apart the American League all-star voting. Well, this week we will look at the National League, and after last night the starters have all been selected (aside from pitchers). You ready?

      First base
      Leader: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
      Mike’s pick: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals.       Well, this one is a no-brainer. Is it possible that Albert gets better with age? Yes, and his numbers border on staggering. 81 games in, he’s batting .336 with 31 homers and 82 RBI and a slugging percentage of .748. That projects to 62 homers and 164 runs batted in. What’s more, dude has a .993 fielding percentage. There is little doubt Pujols is the best player in the game, and he gets to flaunt it in front of his hometown crowd a week from Tuesday.

      Second base
      Leader: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
      Mike’s pick: Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies.       This one is also a no-brainer that the voters got correct, though as a Mets fan it pains me to say that. Utley has 17 homers, 54 RBI, he’s batting .303 with 16 doubles and a .980 OPS—all unbelievable numbers for a second baseman. This guy is a gamer.

      Shortstop
      Leader: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
      Mike’s pick: Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins.       This is getting to be a trend, but the numbers in the National League don’t seem to lie, do they? Hanley is batting .344 with 13 homers and 58 RBI, 26 doubles, 12 stolen bases and a .972 OPS. By comparison, he is hitting 119 points higher than JJ Hardy and 132 points higher than the slumping Jimmy Rollins. Case closed.

      Third base
      Leader: David Wright, New York Mets
      Mike’s pick: Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks      . Wright was leading the league in batting for quite a while, and he’s currently hitting .333 but with just 5 homers and 42 RBI. By comparison, Reynolds has clubbed 22 home runs with 57 RBI while batting a respectable .271. At a power position, I’m giving the nod to the guy barely anyone gets to see play.

      Catcher:
      Leader: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
      Mike’s pick: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves.       This is close, because Yadier’s brother Bengie has 10 homers and 46 RBI for the Giants, but McCann is batting .311 with 8 home runs and 33 driven in, with 15 doubles and a respectable .988 fielding percentage.

      Outfield
      Leaders: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
      Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
      Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
      Mike’s picks: Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia Phillies
      Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
      Brad Hawpe, Colorado Rockies      Ibanez is having a career season, batting .312 with 22 homers and 59 RBI, and Braun just continues to rake, with 16 home runs, 58 driven in and a .326 average. But Beltran, while he plays in the biggest media market and makes mega-bucks, is not going to get my all-star nod over Brad Hawpe. Beltran is hitting .336, but has just 8 homers and 40 RBI. Hawpe is hitting .328 with 13 homers and 56 runs batted in, 25 doubles and a stunning .993 OPS. If Manny Ramirez was playing most of the season, he’d probably be on this list, but I can’t consider a guy who’s only played 28 games, regardless of why he missed all that time.

      Starting pitcher
      As you all know, pitchers are chosen by the managers and will be announced this Sunday.
      Mike’s pick: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants. Last year’s NL Cy Young winner got off to a slow start, but has been mowing hitters down lately, to the tune of 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA and league-leading 132 strikeouts with just 28 walks in 114 innings. Arizona’s Dan Haren is a close runner-up, with a 7-5 record for a crappy D-Backs’ team, and a league low 2.19 ERA with 113 K’s and 0.81 WHIP.

      Relief pitcher
      Mike’s pick: Heath Bell, San Diego Padres. When this former Met helped christen Citi Field by mowing down his ex-teammates in April, I thought it was just a phase. But dude leads the NL in saves with 22, and is 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33 innings of work. And here’s the best stat of all—Bell has saved or won 74% of his team’s wins. If he keeps that up, Bell will contend for the NL Cy Young and even garner some MVP votes.

      Barstool Debates, Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, Happy Hour, MLB

      Giants, Lincecum haven’t talked new contract

      July 2, 2009 /

      At the beginning of the 2009 MLB season, the Giants and reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum set out to talk long-term contract and keep the ace in San Francisco for years to come. But according to Lincecum’s agent Rick Thurman, the Giants haven’t brought the topic up again since.

      Not that they would, but the Giants can’t play games here. Lincecum is clearly the future of their staff and while clubs are always hesitant on giving young pitcher’s hefty contracts, Lincecum is without a doubt worth the risk. He’s essentially a freak of nature given his unique skills (he barely has to warm up, he has never had to ice after an outing and pitch counts mean very little for this young man) and he’ll probably be worth every penny he makes.

      The Giants have a little bit of time since Lincecum’s arbitration years aren’t until 2011-2013. If they don’t mind paying him truckloads of money for one-year deals, they could go year-to-year (which Lincecum and his agent don’t mind because they’re not worried about him getting hurt) with his contract. But again, why mess around? He’s the face of the franchise and one of those rare players that a team just can’t let go.

      The Giants are little more cautious these days with long-term contracts after blowing the Barry Zito deal. But again, Lincecum is going to be worth it and it would be shocking if the G-Men don’t enter long-term talks with him again after the season.

      MLB

      MLB All-25 and Younger Team

      June 8, 2009 /

      There’s a different feel to baseball again – a good feeling.

      Yeah, I know – there are probably still plenty of players who are cheating. But at least the league is (finally) making somewhat of an effort to clean up its image and for that, we as fans have hope that maybe someday the game will be juice-free again.

      Those who have watched their fair share of baseball this season should be reveling in how the game is getting younger again. Instead of teams waiting for dingers in order to score runs, clubs are bunting, stealing and manufacturing scoring opportunities – the way the game is supposed to be played.

      After watching how the Rays won last season, more and more teams are building their rosters by developing home grown talent rather than signing big-name free agents (save for the Yankees, of course) and it’s making the game exciting again. An onus has been made on youth and speed and for the first time in quite a while, baseball is once again a young man’s game.

      That said, I’ve decided to have a little fun by constructing an entire 25-man baseball roster (I’ve named the team “Team Youthful Exuberance”) by using only players who are 25 years of age and younger. Rules and guidelines for the roster are below so enjoy and as always, feel free to make an argument for any players that I might have missed.

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      MLB

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