A Good(?) Experiment Gone Wrong

Does he have any gas left in the tank?  Will he rehab successfully following surgery to repair a degenerative hip? Will he be at least a small piece of the puzzle to help a woeful pitching staff? How effective will he be with whatever little stuff of his remains?

These are the questions that Angels' GM Billy Eppler and manager Mike Scioscia apparently answered in the affirmative when willing to take a chance on signing the former back-to-back Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum to a one-year prorated portion of a $2.5 million salary on May 20th. Unfortunately, their gamble has not paid off.

Lincecum's decline since 2012 has been duly documented and widely known. And rest assured the Giants' top brass was also well aware of the steady drop of the 32-year-old right hander's fastball velocity, his declining strikeout rate and his ailing hip when it did not consider re-signing him after the 2015 season. After all, the Bellevue, Washington native was relegated to the bullpen in his last year of his illustrious San Francisco career. 

Other than his debut start with Los Angeles in Oakland on June 12th (his only quality start), the results of the Lincecum experiment with the Angels have not been pretty. Since then Lincecum is 1-6 with an unsightly 10.58 ERA and 2.63 WHIP.  In 32.1 innings he has allowed 64 hits, walked 21 men and given up 11 homers (3.1 HR/9). He has performed well below a replacement level player (-0.8).

To see a once quality star and peak performer as Tim Lincecum struggle as he is currently is painful to accept. Please, Los Angeles Angels: please end this experiment gone awry now!  O' to only remember Tim Lincecum in a San Francisco Giants uniform.