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Lincecum's Struggles Continue

Tim Lincecum turned in his 3rd straight sub-par outing on Wednesday, a game in which the Giants had a chance to sweep a series, something they haven't done in about a month. Lincecum's lack of control continues to be his downfall. His stuff is amazing, but he's consistently getting himself behind in counts and putting himself in situations where he has to give in to hitters. Wednesday's start was his worst start of the season, even worse than his debut outing vs. the Mets, and it was the second time in a row Lincecum failed to complete five innings. His recent struggles have raised the question to some as to whether it's time to start thinking about Lincecum in the closing role? My feelings on that... No Way. You can't decide to alter a guy with this much potential because he's had a few bad outings early in his rookie season. We all know young pitchers go through ups and downs in early on, and even guys praised as highly as Lincecum are not always going to come up and dominate right off the bat. Most other 22 year old pitchers are either still in college or in the low minors. This guy hasn't even been out of college ball a full year yet, he's going to go through some struggles. That being said, I did expect a little more out of Timmy right off the bat. Giants scouts and personal all felt he was further along than Matt Cain was when Cain was promoted, but Cain's first 7 starts of his career looked a lot better than Lincecum's. I would expect to see Lincecum keep improving, and there is no way I would move him to the pen. If anything, send him back to Fresno if he has another couple of bad starts, but not to the bullpen.

Jeremy Accardo got to show Giants fans, and Brian Sabean especially, what they are missing out on. Accardo saved the series finale win for the Blue Jays and did it in impressive fashion. He struck out Barry Bonds to end the game and in Barry's at bat Accardo featured nothing but filthy, 96-97 mph fastballs away at the knees, reminding me a lot of Francisco Rodriguez. Accardo is a legit closer, the 2nd one the Giants have let get away in the last 4 years, 4 years in which they have been searching for one themselves. I hope that by watching Accardo dominate the ninth inning, it encourages Sabean to keep all his young arms this summer. In fact maybe it will encourage Sabean to go out and try to take some steal some young arms, or bats, from some other team for once.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lincecum's a rookie, people need to give him a break. The kid's a top flight pitcher and will be fine.
8:25 PM
Anonymous said…
Yeah, he's shown flashes...he's a rookie and you're gonna see growing pains, but I certainly envision him as a future top of the rotation guy...
8:33 PM
Anonymous said…
The kid is young and has great stuff. Just give him time.
11:04 PM
Anonymous said…
Maybe the Giants can rehire Dusty Baker as a pitching consultant or something. He really did wonders for the early development of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.
1:33 AM
Trevor Cole said…
Ahh, you can't blame Bake for Prior and Wood! It's not like he built their elbows out of glass.
1:38 AM
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