San Francisco Giants: News Regarding Pitchers with Ties to SF

Spring Training has opened across baseball, but with so many available free agents, teams will continue to add to their rosters before Opening Day (and maybe after, as well). The San Francisco Giants are one of those teams looking for additions, and there are a few options out there if they are to do so.

With that in mind, here’s a few notes regarding pitchers with ties to the Giants.

Tim Lincecum threw his showcase on Thursday, and according to many reports, he sat between 90 and 93 miles per hour with his fastball velocity. That’s a couple ticks up from the 87.7 he averaged with the Los Angeles Angels in his last big league action in 2016, but still quite a few ticks shy of the 93 to 94 he averaged during his prime.

Lincecum didn’t pitch for an organization in 2017 and hasn’t been an above-average big league pitcher since 2011, but some team is going to take a chance on a guy who is a two-time Cy Young award winner and who was, at one point, the most dominating pitcher in the game.

A guaranteed spot on some team’s 40-man roster seems rather unlikely, but with so many teams with openings in their rotation (the Giants included), the demand will be there. Also, bringing in Lincecum with a chance to see him revive his career could be a nice selling point to fans for a team that isn’t keen on competing. Whether or not Lincecum would go to a team that won’t compete in 2018 remains to be seen, though.

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A player the Giants made contact with during free agency could be back on the market. Seung-Hwan Oh reportedly agreed to a contract with the Texas Rangers earlier this month, but on Thursday, Texas general manager Jon Daniels said “We have nothing close to being ready to announce”.

Daniels didn’t clarify as to what that exactly means, whether an issue with a physical is holding up the deal or if a deal was simply prematurely reported. If Oh is in fact healthy and ready to sign with a team, he should garner a fair amount of interest.

The former Korean Baseball star has pitched the last two season in the MLB with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was spectacular in his debut year in 2016, pitching to a 1.92 ERA and 0.916 WHIP while striking out 11.6 batters per nine innings. His numbers were much worse across the board in 2017, with his ERA and WHIP skyrocketing to 4.10 and 1.399, respectively, while his strikeouts dropped his 8.2 per nine.

The Giants offered a Hwang before he “signed” with Texas, so if this deal has in fact fallen through, they can continue their pursuit to add to their bullpen.

Next: Big Questions as Spring Training Opens

Also, Jake Peavy is eyeing a comeback. He told Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller that he will throw for teams in a few months after his son is finished with school. Peavy’s 2016 season was abysmal, but his life away from the field wasn’t any better that year. It will be difficult to root against the former Cy Young award winner after reading about his difficult journey in recent years.